The Fabric of America: How Our Borders and Boundaries Shaped the Country and Forged Our National Identity

by Andro Linklater

With the same mix of compelling narrative history and captivating historical argument that made his previous book, Measuring America , such a success, Andro Linklater relates in fascinating detail how, the borders and boundaries that formed states and a nation inspired the sense of identity that has have ever since been central to the American experiment. Linklater opens with America's greatest surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, measuring the contentious boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia in the summer of 1784; and he ends standing at the yellow line dividing the United States and Mexico at Tijuana. In between, he chronicles the evolving shape of the nation, physically and psychologically. As Americans pushed westward in the course of the nineteenth century, the borders and boundaries established by surveyors like Ellicott created property, uniting people in a desire for the government and laws that would protect it. Challenging Frederick Jackson Turner's famed frontier thesis, Linklater argues that we are , thus, defined not by open spaces but by boundaries. "What Americanized the immigrants was not the frontier experience" Linklater writes, "but the fact that it took place inside the United States frontier." Those same borders had the ability to divide as well as unite, as the great battle over internal boundaries during the Civil War would show. By century's end, however, we were spreading U.S. power beyond our borders, an act that, seen through Linklater's eyes, offers an intriguing perspective on our role in the world today. Linklater's great achievement is to weave these provocative arguments into a dramatic storyline, wherein the actions of Ellicott, Thomas Jefferson, the treasonous general James Wilkinson, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, and numerous hitherto invisible settlers, all illuminate the shaping of the nation. This brilliant book will alter forever readers' perception of America and what it means to be an American.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Biography, Geography, Maps

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that while there were aspects of this author's approach that I didn't particularly appreciate--like his assumption that the greater liberalism that came about in American culture because of the immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe was a good thing, there was a lot that I appreciated about this book.  There are at least two reasons for this--one because at its center for so long is a particularly appealing protagonist, the orderly but also intense and prickly Andrew Ellicott, a surveyor of great importance to the history of the United States whose attention to accuracy and detail were of vital importance in the spread of Americans to the west and who mapped borders from Pennsylvania to Washington DC to the Mississippi River and down to Florida, and even had a role in diplomacy with native tribes as well as foreign powers (like the Spanish).  The other reason I think I liked this book so much is my own deep interest in issues of lines and boundaries [1].  This shared passionate interest makes me perhaps the ideal person to read this book.  It was a page-turner for me, full of quirky characters and an interesting paradox at the heart of American ambivalence towards government.

Beginning in the colonial period, the author tries to make the point that there was a special tension with regards to the American frontier that made it quintessentially American as opposed to the frontiers of other areas, a frontier that was formed by people seeking to escape oppressive local control on the part of states or local elites but one that inevitably sought to secure title to land which involved the presence of surveyors marking boundaries and establishing some sort of legal order, a process that continued throughout the expansion of the United States to the West.  The simultaneous desires for personal freedom, including freedom from burdensome taxation, and also for secure hold of property (including slaves) was responsible for a great deal of ambivalence concerning authority and the legitimacy of government, a problem that continues to this day.  The author spends most of the book exploring this subject through Andrew Ellicott, a Pennsylvania-born Quaker whose family settled in the Baltimore area and whose fame as an accurate and precise curmudgeon allowed him a lengthy career of marking boundaries, participating in diplomacy with restive tribes who knew his presence meant their land was about to be taken from them, as well as a successful effort to squeeze the Spanish out of much of the American Southwest, and dealing with political elites who knew him to be faithful and committed to his work, if a bit prickly to deal with sometimes.  Many of the chapters also deal with the interplay between local, state, and federal authority and the tension between liberty and order that is a quintessentially American phenomenon.

This is, ultimately, a book that celebrates American liberty while also commenting on the way that escape from authority in the United States was seldom straightforward, in that all of those who sought a new life and property in frontier areas wanted at least some government to protect them and their hold on their property.  I think the author is successful in pointing out that this phenomenon has much to do with the social reality of the United States throughout its history and in dealing with tensions involving slavery, fears over immigration and the changes that result to American culture as a result of populations, and also concerns about the power of any government to threaten private property rights in order to receive tax revenues.  Dealing seriously with this book and with its arguments about American ambivalence towards government is a matter of great relevance considering the contemporary concerns with tax revolts as well as hostility towards illegal immigrants, a periodic phenomenon that usually reflects America during times of great internal crisis such as we are now experiencing.  The author seems strangely optimistic about our nation in light of the longstanding tensions and conflicts within our society--of course, he seems to assume that government control will increase and finds this to be a positive outcome, something many readers will likely be less sanguine about.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[Dave Woodall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, but more detail than I care to learn about.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me longer than necessary to read this book due to the density of its content and the fact that I was reading another book at the same time, but I found it a very informational read. The book focuses mainly on Andrew Ellicott, who, it turns out, played a major role in defining both state and national borders of a young and growing USA. I cannot recall ever hearing about Ellicott before in my years as a history student, but he is definitely someone worth remembering when it comes to US history. To be honest, though, I thought Linklater focused a bit much on Ellicott. Granted I do believe he is an important figure worth such attention given by Linklater due to Ellicott being almost inextricably tied to the topic, but so much of the book is about the period of history during which Ellicott served in his role as star-gazer and border-definer of the US. The period of time during which Ellicott lived takes up roughly half the length of the book (he died in 1820), leaving the remainder of American history through the present to fill the second half of the book, giving me the impression that the author rushed through those years of history after stalling so long on Ellicott's life. "Is this a book about Ellicott or the history of America's borders?" I asked myself. Linklater's obsession with Ellicott aside, I did enjoy reading about US history from the point of view of how borders defined the US at given points in history, and I appreciate the better-rounded knowledge I feel I have concerning certain events and aspects of America's past.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this discursive book, Andro Linklater (1944-2013) argues that American pioneers were not motivated to settle the West because they hated government and preferred the freedom of wide open spaces but because, to the contrary, they anticipated that law and order (even of the rough-and-ready sort mythologized in Westerns) would soon provide legal title to their newly acquired property. Linklater focuses his early chapters on the career of the gifted and energetic surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, who, at the turn of the 19th century, had the good fortune to be employed in the running of some of the most significant borders in post-Revolutionary America. The considerable expense was something governments were willing to bear because most subsequently did a land office business in frontier real estate.

Linklater becomes less focused once he has to leave Ellicott behind. Nevertheless, the book is not the ramble that some critics have accused it of being. To a considerable degree, the Civil War really was a dispute not just over slavery per se but over the boundaries that separated slavery from non-slavery. And even in his most expansive moods, Linklater writes with a sensible, vigorous style.

[Chris Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 4.5-star rating. It is a wonderful, personable telling of the development of the American borderlands through the work of Andrew Ellicott, who became the gold standard for surveyors and boundary commissioners. The work is far-reaching, interesting, and well-researched. He justifies his conclusions with facts and a wealth of background information. His later chapters dealing 'what does it all mean" are on point, and his suggestions for new interpretations of the Turner thesis are appropriate, fact-based, thoughtful, and trenchant. Perhaps Mr. Linklater's books will increase our knowledge and appreciation of Mr. Ellicoott from a scientific standpoint and his role in creating the U.S.M.A. Well done!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong: I learned a lot from this. The bit about why the Oklahoma panhandle exists, for instance, is remarkable. But the prose is dense and takes some determination to get through. Most of the book reads as a biography of Andrew Ellicott and then offers lip service to some boundary issues that happened after his heyday. The refutation of Turner's frontier exceptionalism that the book promises is only part of one chapter and leaves some argumentation to be desired. So I guess in the end this is interesting but not as monumental as advertised.

[Laurabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that turns Frederick Jackson Turner's thesis of the frontier (defined by open spaces) on its head.

Linklater ends his book with the history of immigration and the hot topic issues we are faced with today which I found thought-provoking.

So much was written that interested me that I will be reading this book again.

Unknowingly I have walked by Andrew Ellicott's house in Lancaster, PA and now I have a better understanding of how this surveyor helped to create our American quilt!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe not quite 4 stars since it took me a long time to get through it, but an interesting book. I didn't realize how influential state and national boundaries were to how American history unfolded.

The first half of the book was my favorite, I guess I just really liked Andrew Ellicott. Towards the end the book seemed more philosophical and less history. But still worth reading.

[Sharron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 4.5 stars. This is as well written and information packed as his earlier work “Measuring America”. How curious it is that a Scottish journalist would provide such an insightful history and explanation of property development and frontier boundaries in the U. S. A.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history of American geopolitics and—consequently—demographics.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have often wondered how arbitrary borders are agreed upon. The Mason and Dixon line between Pennsylvania and Maryland is one of the most famous borders in the world. But most people don't know that Mason and Dixon stopped when they reached the Monongahela River. Their guides and guards, Natives from tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy would not so much as set foot on the other side of the river as it was an agreed upon border. Decades later, a Quaker from Philadelphia named Andrew Ellicott took up the task of completing the border, and marking the north south border between Pennsylvania and Ohio. At the time, of course, this was an international boundary between the state of Pennsylvania and British held North America. This is where Linklater picks up the story.

Ellicott went on to map borders in New York, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. He had occasion to help enforce treaties between the United States and Spain, and had encounters with Frend Trappers in the Louisiana Territory. Ellicott's travels took him all over the young Republic to what was largely frontier territory. Linklater explores how maps and borders turned "the wilderness" into the settled land it would one day become. He uses the life and travels of Andrew Ellicott to illustrate the dramatic effect that a border can have on the lives of people on both sides.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very much intrigued by the history of marking the borders of states and invariably the nation of the United States of America. The author draws on how marking these lines was accomplished and how it played in the politics and history of the nation. He concludes with an interesting projection into modern day borders and the future. I was surprised to find an emphasis on the struggle with slavery in the minds of the early Americans, long before the civil war came about. He also treats the topic of the treatment of the American Indians during this border demarcation effort. It took me awhile to get through this book, but I was never really bored. I just expected it to be an easier read than it turned out to be. One regret is that, although the books has many quotes and its appendix, there was no numbering in the paragraphs to assign each quote with its source. Otherwise a book I will remember and refer to, far in the future.

[Adam Grandberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book! We’ve all had geography classes in school, but this book goes into detail about how the state boundaries were actually surveyed and laid out, though the wilderness of the frontier (first, of the Appalachians, then the Mississippi River, and south to Florida). As another reviewer wrote, I had also never heard of Andrew Ellicott before this book, but he was an unsung hero in accurately determining the proper boundaries for the states and the international border with Canada. If you like or love American history, you will appreciate this “behind the scenes” look at how the states REALLY came to be.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of the book offers an interesting look at Andrew Ellicott's pioneering efforts at mapping the US. After a thorough treatment of Ellicott's and others' efforts, the text seems to hurry through the rest of the boundary lines in the US as the nation did during the next two centuries. An interesting look at US forays into imperialism and then to the most disputed US border today, the Southern border with Mexico. The overview is helpful to an understanding of the US and her citizens, and offers a hopeful prognosis for the future of the nation.

[Todd Van Meter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fascinating book by Mr. Linklater. His hypothesis regarding a unique American frontier experience and its ties to this country's land ownership laws and methods of acquisition is clearly explained and supported with historical examples. The biographical information about Andrew Ellicott is informative and extremely interesting. This is an entertaining and well written book that provides a very interesting take on an area of American history that is often overlooked.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this out thinking that it might be interesting on a road trip. When that hadn't happened after 14 renewals I decided I'd better get started on my own. It was a little too scholarly for my aged brain, but, if I'd been reading instead of listening there were definitely some good anecdotes and interesting quotes I would have written down-like what Brigham Young said about slavery and how big the proposed State of Deseret was to be.

[Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended by my father.
More of a history of the times than an explanation of how borders and boundaries were determined.
This is the kind of book that should have plenty of maps but there were only a couple and they were pretty much unreadable.
The writing is good and it flows well, though there is some timeline back and forth that can be confusing.
Interesting but not what I was expecting based on the description.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, if far-flung history of the shaping of the physical boundaries of the United States. I don't know whether the thesis was only weakly supported, or if I misinterpreted what the author was initially trying to achieve, but there was still lots of interesting history that I hadn't yet encountered.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on the rather obscure topic discussing how many of the borders of the states were marked and the significance of them. How did Pennsylvania get its nice southwest corner square? What about Missouri (think Missouri compromise!). Find out here.

[Bill Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one because I love to read about early American history. Oddly, the last third of the book doesn't really focus so much on determining boundaries of the new states but you do get a ton of interesting history. I would consider reading more by this author.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I wouldn't have read this with my eyeballs, but listening to it was remarkably interesting. Not what I expected at all, but a completely different point of view of the expansion of America.

[Fran Caparrelli]

very interesting - most of the early book is set in Pennsylvania

[Imre Sutton]

Both historical and environmental,focusing on how dividing up the country, and the role of maps, explorations, etc., established our nation. A kind of historical geography.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made it more than half-way , but couldn't finish it.

[Cheri Stringer]

I tried to read this using an audio book, not a good choice. May try again in print.

[Esther Dyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful history of early US from a different - geo/cartogrpahical - perspective.

[Tommy Schlosser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not what I expected, not sure I would read again. It was a bit anti-climactic.