Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United StatesWhen the people of British North America threw off their colonial bonds, they sought more than freedom from bad government: most of the founding generation also desired the freedom to create and enjoy good, popular, responsive government. This book traces the central issue on which early Americans pinned their hopes for positive government action--internal improvement. The nation's early republican governments undertook a wide range of internal improvement projects meant to assure Americans' security, prosperity, and enlightenment--from the building of roads, canals, and bridges to the establishment of universities and libraries. But competitive struggles eventually undermined the interstate and interregional cooperation required, and the public soured on the internal improvement movement. Jacksonian politicians seized this opportunity to promote a more libertarian political philosophy in place of activist, positive republicanism. By the 1850s, the United States had turned toward a laissez-faire system of policy that, ironically, guaranteed more freedom for capitalists and entrepreneurs than ever envisioned in the founders' revolutionary republicanism. |
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Adams American authority Baltimore bank benefits bill build Calhoun called Canal capital chaps claims Clay common Company Cong Congress Constitution construction corporations debates debt demands Democratic early economic election engineers enterprise Erie especially experience fear federal Federalist finally friends fund George hands Henry Clay History hoped House ibid Indiana interests internal improvements Jackson Jacksonian James Jefferson John land legislation liberty Madison ment Michigan natural navigation never North Carolina objectives Ohio once opposition original party passed Pennsylvania Philadelphia political popular Potomac president principles projects promised promoters quotations railroad Report Republic Republican result rhetoric River roads roads and canals route seemed Senate sess South surveys Thomas Jefferson thought tion took trade turned Union United University Press Virginia vision votes Washington West western York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States |
| Author | John Lauritz Larson |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of North Carolina Press, 2001 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Nov 29, 2006 |
| ISBN | 0807825956, 9780807825952 |
| Length | 324 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General Political Science / Labor & Industrial Relations |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |