Elusive Empires
Constructing Colonialism in the Ohio Valley, 1673–1800

A fascinating story that offers a striking interpretation of the origins, progress, and effects of the American Revolution.

Eric Hinderaker (Author)

9780521563338, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 January 1997

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.64 kg

"This thoughtful study, based upon wide research in various sources, makes useful distinctions among the three types of frontier empires." The Journal of the Early Republic

This book, first published in 1997, examines the efforts of France, Britain, and the United States to extend imperial dominion over the Ohio Valley, focusing on the relations between Europeans and Indians to tell the story. It treats empires as cross-cultural constructions whose details were negotiated by their participants, not directed from London, Paris, or Philadelphia. Hinderaker argues that three models of empire competed for acceptance in the region: empires of commerce and of land, each of which was attempted by both the French and the British, and an empire of liberty, which grew out of the American Revolution and eventually became the basis for Euro-American occupation of the valley. The result is a fascinating story that carefully considers the wealth of recent scholarship on the West, but simultaneously offers a strikingly new interpretation of the American Revolution and its legacy in the relations between Indians and the new American nation.

Preface
Part I. Empires of Commerce: 1. Networks of trade
2. Communities of exchange
Part II. Empires of Land: 3. Definitions of value
4. The alchemy of property
Interscript: the Ohio Valley on the eve of revolution
Part III. Empire of Liberty: 5. Land and liberty
6. Empire ascendant
Notes.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History of the Americas [HBJK]