The paradox of power : statebuilding in America, 1754-1920

America’s political history is a fascinating paradox. The United States was born with the admonition that government posed a threat to liberty. This apprehension became the foundation of the nation’s civic ideology and was embedded in its constitutional structure. Yet the history of public life in the United States records the emergence of an enormously powerful national state during the nineteenth century. By 1920, the United States was arguably the most powerful country in the world. In The Paradox of Power Ballard C. Campbell traces this evolution and offers an explanation for how it occurred. Campbell argues that the state in America is rooted in the country’s colonial experience and analyzes the evidence for this by reviewing governance at all levels of the American polity—local, state, and national—between 1754 and 1920. Campbell poses five critical causal references: war, geography, economic development, culture and identity (including citizenship and nationalism), and political capacity. This last factor embraces law and constitutionalism, administration, and political parties. The Paradox of Power makes a major contribution to our understanding of American statebuilding by emphasizing the fundamental role of local and state governance to successfully integrate urban, state, and national governments to create a composite and comprehensive portrait of how governance evolved in America. "The formation of the American state was something of a paradox, rising so quickly in power and wealth in the midst of an anti-statist political culture. While most people think the American state did not emerge until the twentieth century, The Paradox of Power challenges this notion, synthesizing a wealth of historical, political, legal, and economic scholarship to offer a reinterpretation of the development of the American state from the late colonial era through World War I. Ballard Campbell demonstrates that the American state developed consistently throughout the "long" nineteenth century (1754-1920). During these decades disconnected British colonies evolved into an affluent society with a greatly expanded capacity to govern, ranking the nation as a major world power by 1920. The Paradox of Power examines this complex evolution of the American state from two perspectives. The first describes the historical process of statebuilding, while the second links this historical narrative to five themes: geography, economic development, war and the military, individual identities including nationalism, and political capacity. Unlike most broad accounts of American governance, The Paradox of Power stresses the central role that state and local governments (including municipalities) played in America. The history of American governance has never been simply a story set in Washington"-- Provided by publisher Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures and Tables Preface 1. The Dynamics of American Statebuilding Part I. Colonial Times through the Civil War and Reconstruction 2. Rise of the Little Republics 3. Forging a National State 4. Geographic and Economic Expansion 5. Nationalism and Public Policy 6. The Dynamics of Antebellum Governance 7. The Civil War Builds New States Part II. The Gilded Age through World War I and the 1920s 8. Social and Economic Transformations 9. Nationalism, Parties, and the Coercive State, 1870–1917 10. The Federal State during the Gilded Age 11. The Progressive State 12. The Wartime State 13. The End of the Long Nineteenth Century Appendix Notes Index Back Cover The dynamics of American statebuilding -- Rise of the little republics -- Forging a national state -- Geographic and economic expansion -- Nationalism and public policy -- The dynamics of antebellum governance -- How the Civil War impacted statebuilding -- Expansion and economic transformations -- Nationalism, parties, and the coercive state, 1870-1917 -- The federal state during the Gilded Age -- Progressivism and statebuilding -- The wartime state -- Conclusion: Statebuilding, 1870s-1920s