movements, therefore, I have endeavored to group the
events of forty-five years.

Within the last few years special studies have added much to the common
stock of historical information, and in many ways effected changes in
the historian's point of view. The time seemed proper to restate the
salient factors in the history of this formative period. I have frankly
appropriated the labors of others. Had the plan of the series permitted
the use of footnotes, I would gladly have made particular acknowledgment
of my indebtedness. At the same time I have not hesitated to present the
results of my own studies where they have led away from the conventional
view of men and events.

In preparation of the maps showing the popular vote in the elections of
1800 and 1824, I have drawn largely upon the data which Dr. Charles O.
Paullin, of the Carnegie Institution, has generously put at my disposal.
In States where the presidential electors were not chosen directly by
the voters, other votes, such as those for governor, have been made the
basis for determining the popular choice among party candidates for the
presidency. Two of my graduate students, Miss Isabel S. Mitchell and Mr.
Joseph E. Howe, have given me valuable assistance in the execution of
the maps. I am under particular obligation to my colleague, Professor
Stewart L. Mims, for reading critically both manuscript and proof.

Allen Johnson.

CONTENTS

I. The Ordeal of the Confederation 1

II. The Making of the Constitution 25

III. The Restoration of Public Credit 46

IV. The Testing of the New Government 68

V. Anglomen and Jacobins 89

VI. The Revolution of 1800 105

VII. Jeffersonian Reforms 123

VIII. The Purchase of the Province of Louisiana 143

IX. Faction and Conspiracy 161

X. Peaceable Coercion 179

XI. The Approach of War 197

XII. The War of 1812 212

XIII. The Results of the War 231

XIV. The Westward Movement 245

XV. Hard Times