5. The Unsteady Early Republic

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we will explore the unsteady nature of movement in Early Republic. The failure of population control in the Old Northwest pushed the US into conflict with Native American populations. Initially these wars went very poorly for the US but by the middle of the 1790s the stronger federal government meant that the Republic was able to subdue and push native populations further west. By 1795, three treaties stabilised relations in the Middle Ground and set a course for future conflict, these were: (i) the Treaty of Greenville; (ii) the Jay Treaty; (iii) Pinckney's Treaty.

Course

In this course, Professor Stephen Rockwell (St. Joseph's College, New York) explains how and why migration and immigration to and within North America caused competition and conflict over the period 1754-1800. We start by looking at immigration to North America and the 'Middle Ground' in this period. We then turn to look at the French and Indian War for control and influence of the Middle Ground. The next two modules will look at how Britain and later the US tried to control their populations and how these strategies were resisted. In the penultimate module we will discuss the unsteady nature of the early Republic. Finally, we will explore slavery and population movement in the early Republic.

Lecturer

Stephen J. Rockwell is a Professor of Political Science at St. Joseph's College, New York. He specialises on a number of areas including: national institutions; public administration; race, ethnicity and politics (including American Indian affairs and immigration issues); and American political development more generally. He has written a number of books including Indian Affairs and the Administrative State in the Nineteenth Century and How Big Government Won the West.