An empire for liberty

by Esmond Wright

An Empire for Liberty examines the history of the United States from the Declaration of Independence to the Civil War less than a century later. The book opens in the aftermath of the American victory over the British in 1776: an era that witnessed the first strains of maintaining independence, and the lively debate that led to a democratic federal constitution under Washington's presidency. Once independence had been achieved, expansion proceeded rapidly: by 1860 the original thirteen states had increased to thirty-four. An Empire for Liberty provides an assessment of such a territorial gains as the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, examining their effects on the Federation as a whole. It shows that, for all their hopes, the American peoples were, in practice, bitterly divided in their efforts to establish the democratic republic. Tensions which had been channeled against foreign rule during the battle for independence now had to be addressed within the new United States. This volume balanc