Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents ix
3. Principal Characters xi
4. The Confederation’s Final Years: A Chronology xv
5. Introduction 1
6. Part One The Search for National Identity
7. 1 War’s Aftermath 17
8. 2 Americans and Postwar Debts 48
9. 3 Republic and Empire 74
10. 4 Protecting American Commerce in an Imperial World 102
11. Part TWO Western Expansion Strains
12. 5 “Astonishing” Emigrations and Western Conflicts 133
13. 6 The Spanish-Treaty Impasse and the Union’s Collapse 161
14. Part THREE Internal Divisions: State Social Conflicts
15. 7 Economic Relief, Social Peace, and Republican Justice 189
16. 8 Shays’s Rebellion 214
17. Part FOUR Confederation Collapse and Its Consequences
18. 9 “The Truth Is, We Have Not a Government” 245
19. Conclusion 279
20. Epilogue 297
21. Acknowledgments 301
22. Abbreviations 305
23. Notes 309
24. Bibliography 365
25. Index 383