Kirjahaku

Civil-military relations in the era of the War of 1812 must be seen as a broad theme, not just the particular relationships between officers, military organizations, and civil government and civilians. Civil-military attitudes were interwoven in the lives of Americans and must be seen as ideological and social in character with political expressions. Secondarily, the War of 1812 was a transition period from the matrix of ideas inherited from English history and the War of Independence experience with an Atlantic orientation toward the national experience and continental orientation of the 19th Century.This book is a thematic exploration of civil-military themes in the era of the War of 1812. It begins with the immediate post-American Revolutionary era, the Constitutional Founding, and works through events in the 1790s and 1800s that illustrated how the Founding Fathers used the military as an aid to the civil power to maintain political order; how republican ideology colored the kind of military system American leaders in this era believed their country should have: in particular the heavy reliance upon the militia as an ideological ideal that failed in practice; the first glimmerings of volunteerism as an alternate, and later substitute for the militia idea; and an episodic use of military power to enforce civil political authority. The evolution of these civil-military themes occurred within the larger evolution of the United States as a small country with an Atlantic orientation perched along the eastern seaboard of North American into a continental country after 1815 because of the defeat of Indian tribes, the eclipse and elimination of Spanish territorial control in the Gulf of Mexico littoral and the trans-Mississippi West, and the rapprochement with Great Britain on sharing upper North America.

The border between Canada and the United States separates political sovereignties, but not the shared themes of cultural, social, and economic history that have unfolded since the 18th century. Transnationalism brings together original works that focus on the shared histories of the United States and Canada that have over two centuries created a distinct North American identity and sensibility.

The border between Canada and the United States separates political sovereignties, but not the shared themes of cultural, social, and economic history that have unfolded since the 18th century. Transnationalism brings together original works that focus on the shared histories of the United States and Canada that have over two centuries created a distinct North American identity and sensibility.

Although they sometimes seem to be engaged in a single, wildly imbalanced relationship, the United States and Canada actually share interwoven connections through a host of regional, cultural, social, economic, and even political communities that form an American-Canadian interdependence, according to Reginald C. Stuart. Dispersed Relations uses multidisciplinary research and an innovative framework to show how a shared history of ideas and tastes, values and interests, ethnic groups, institutions, and organizations in North America has sorted into four realms: cultural, social, economic, and political. Political and economic asymmetry notwithstanding, Canadians and Americans live and work within a transnational culture, society, and economy, says Stuart. Yet even as technology, communications, and interests have expanded their interaction, citizens from each country continue to identify with their individual heritage and political systems. Recent events may have strained, and perhaps even blunted this historical evolution, Stuart notes. Since 9/11, Washington has focused on security, and Ottawa reluctantly has met that concern in order to sustain the open transit of people and goods upon which Canada relies. As the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has shown, however, border management also has become increasingly costly and complex. This timely and provocative book provides context for current events and trends that, in isolation, daunt and baffle observers, citizens, and policymakers alike.

By the middle of the eighteenth century war had come to be regarded as a limited instument of state policy and one that should be controlled in the interests of social justice and human progress. Thomas Jefferson's attitude towards war emerged from this Enlightenment tradition and evolved in response to the issues he faced during his career. Drawing on comments scattered through his letters and other writings and an interpretation of the policies he actually pursued, this book traces the development of Jefferson's view of war, from the time of his participation in the Continental Congress, through his years as negotiator and diplomat in Paris following the peace with Britain and independence, his terms as secretary of state, vice-president, and president during an era of European war and near war that threatened United States interests, and his years of retirement when the United States engaged in war and promulgated the Monroe Doctrine. While Jefferson displayed an overwhelming desire to avoid war, he did not suppose that it could be eliminated. He considered it a part of nature, occasionally both just and necessary. He emphasized defence and deterrance, but he did not hesitate to use or threaten war to preserve national integrity and promote national interests during his presidency. Politically and philosophically, he was a pragmatist rather than a pacifist, ready to engage in limited war for limited objectives and as a last resort, but opposed to war as a crusade. Throughout, Stuart's analysis of Jefferson's thinking on matters military shows a sensitive awareness of the tensions in western thought which arose in the transition from the ideas of the Enlightenment to those of the modern era.