Acknowledgment
Editorial Note
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. What to Do with the West?
Chapter 3. A Nationalist Viewpoint
Chapter 4. The West and the New Constitution
Chapter 5. The Fight for the Potomac
Chapter 6. A Western Perspective
Chapter 7. An Unhappy West
Chapter 8. And Slavery
Chapter 9. Western Anxieties and the Military Debate
Chapter 10. A Change in Emphasis
Chapter 11. Epilogue: Looking East
Bibliography
Jeffrey A. Zemler earned his PhD in American history from the University of North Texas.
Zemler makes an interesting and important argument. From 1780 to
1800, 'far-sighted' southern leaders–of whom the Virginian James
Madison was a leading example–worked to create political and
cultural bonds between the established southern states of the
Atlantic seaboard and the emergent states of the trans-Appalachian
West. (Zemler uses 'West' as a label for the territories west of
the Appalachians and south of the Ohio River, which strikes this
reviewer as too imprecise.) It is this Madisonian agenda, Zemler
contends, that helps readers understand the multitudinous political
battles of the American Republic's first two decades. The pursuit
of a South-'West' alliance informed debates over issues ranging
from the role of the House of Representatives in diplomacy, to the
idea of a 'standing army' during this insecure period, to the place
of slavery in an expanding southwestern demesne. Moreover, Zemler
shows, historians studying the 'Old South' need to look earlier for
its origins, as the 'southern-ness' of the eventual cotton frontier
was already well in place by 1800. This well-researched, closely
argued book will be read with profit by students of the early
Republic and Old South. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic
levels/libraries.
*CHOICE*
Zemler has provided a service by taking a fresh look at the West in
American politics and connecting issues that are not generally
connected. . . .Zemler has made a solid contribution to the study
of a southern sectional identity.
*Virginia Magazine*
Zemler makes a strong case for the significance of the western
frontier in the maturation of regional and national politics and
America's fledgling economy. . . .Zemler skillfully reveals the
centrality of the region [trans-Applachian West] and its political
economy in the broader national debates and sectional political
struggles of the period. . . .There is much to be admired in
Zemler's study, especially his ability to tease out the often
obfuscated appearance of western issues in broader congressional
debates and James Madison's constantly evolving views of the
region. . . .[The book] is an excellent addition to the growing
historiography of the trans-Applachian West.
*Register of the Kentucky Historical Society*
Zemler must be applauded for his emphasis on the importance of
regional interests and perceptions in both Madison's thinking and
the broader history of early national America and especially for
incorporating slavery into the story without assuming or
exaggerating its importance.... [A]ll readers will learn from this
book and find Zemler's regional approach to understanding Madison
and his contemporaries stimulating.
*The Historian*
In his succinct and carefully researched new book, Jeffrey Allen
Zemler traces the evolution of the political relationship between
the South and West in the 1780s and 1790s. . . .James Madison, the
South, and the Trans- Appalachian West is a handsome volume. . .
.[Zemler] has made a useful contribution to our understanding of
the politics of expansion in the early republic.
*Ohio Valley History*
Jeffrey Zemler’s James Madison, the South, and the
Trans-Appalachian West, 1783–1803 follows the efforts of leading
southern statesmen and politicians—especially James Madison—to
forge close political ties with the trans-Appalachian west, setting
the stage for the old South that would emerge in the 1820s.
Importantly, Zemler shows that sectional and regional fears
animated southern and national politics from the signing of the
Treaty of Paris in 1783 straight through to the election of Thomas
Jefferson to the presidency in 1800.
*John Craig Hammond, Penn State University*
A smartly crafted book that shows how “nationalist” leaders from
the South, particularly James Madison, were intent on winning the
political alliance of the West as a means to insure Southern power
in the new federal government. In this clearly written and
well-documented book, Jeffery Zemler introduces new ways to
understand a variety of issues faced by the Founding Forefathers,
from the placement of the capitol on the Potomac River to debates
over the value of a standing army in peacetime, and from the
perplexing problem of adding new states to the debates over the
role of the House of Representatives in treaty making. A very fine
book.
*Alan Gallay, Texas Christian University*
This thoroughly researched, well-written account provides new
insight into regional interests in western expansion during the
early national era. Jeffery Zemler argues that James Madison,
in particular, believed the political futures of the South and the
West must be entwined. Madison was at the center of the
development of a strong political relationship between the two
regions. This is an essential book for anyone interested in
the early national history of the antebellum South and the United
States as a nation.
*D. Harland Hagler, University of North Texas*
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