Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: The First "Incorporation" Debate
Chapter 2: "The Strongest Government on Earth": Jefferson's Republicanism, the Expansion of the Union, and the New Nation's Destiny
Chapter 3: The Louisiana Purchase and the Coming of the Civil War
Chapter 4: Settling the West: The Annexation of Texas, the Louisiana Purchase, and Bush v. Gore
Chapter 5: Texas
Chapter 6: The Golden Death of Jefferson's Dream: California and the Sectional Crisis
Chapter 7: A Promise of Expansion
Chapter 8: Puerto Rico's Political Status: The Long-Term Effects of American Expansionist Discourse
Chapter 9: The Constitution and Deconstitution of the United States
Chapter 10: Modes of Rule in America's Overseas Empire: The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Samoa
Chapter 11: Empires External and Internal: Territories, Government Lands, and Federalism in the United States

About the Author

Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr., Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School and is professor of government at the University of Texas. Bartholomew Sparrow is associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin.

Reviews

Given the expansive reach of this sturdy collection, historians in many fields will surely find gold somewhere within its boundaries.
*Journal of American History*

A thought-provoking book.
*Great Plains Quarterly*

The Louisiana Purchase marked the true beginning of the American expansion into Thomas Jefferson's 'Empire of Liberty.' This fascinating collection explores how the American urge to reach outward, first across the continent and then across the globe, has remade America itself, often in ways that were unforeseen and unwelcome. The story of nineteenth-century American expansion, beginning with Louisiana and ending with Puerto Rico, is well worth considering in an era of globalization and global conflicts at the opening of the twenty-first century.
*Keith E. Whittington, Princeton University*