Filibusters and Expansionists: Jeffersonian Manifest Destiny, 1800-1821

by Frank Lawrence Owsley Jr., Gene A. Smith

Demonstrates the passionate interest the Jeffersonian presidents had in wresting land from less powerful foes and expanding Jefferson’s “empire of liberty”

The first two decades of the 19th century found many Americans eager to move away from the crowded eastern seaboard and into new areas where their goals of landownership might be realized. Such movement was encouraged by Presidents Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe—collectively known as the Jeffersonians—who believed that the country's destiny was to have total control over the entire North American continent. Migration patterns during this time changed the country considerably and included the roots of the slavery controversy that ultimately led to the Civil War. By the end of the period, although expansionists had not succeeded in moving into British Canada, they had obtained command of large areas from the Spanish South and Southwest, including acreage previously controlled by Native Americans.
 
Utilizing memoirs, diaries, biographies, newspapers, and vast amounts of both foreign and domestic correspondence, Frank Lawrence Owsley Jr. and Gene A. Smith reveal an insider’s view of the filibusters and expansionists, the colorful—if not sometimes nefarious—characters on the front line of the United States’s land grab. Owsley and Smith describe in detail the actions and characters involving both the successful and the unsuccessful efforts to expand the United States during this period—as well as the outspoken opposition to expansion, found primarily among the Federalists in the Northeast.
 

Genres: History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 1997

About the author

A historian of antebellum American history, Frank Lawrence Owsley, Jr. was professor of history emeritus at Auburn University. where he taught from 1960 to 1995. Owsley received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Vanderbilt University and his doctoral degree at the University of Alabama, and he taught at the Naval Academy for a year before moving to Auburn.

Reviews

[Zach McSwain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even after I finished the last page of this book, I had trouble recalling both its argument and its sources. Owsley Jr. struggled to keep my attention at both a casual and critical level. If you are intrigued with Jeffersonian America, there must be better volumes on the subject. Avoid this unless you want to exhaust the your knowledge of the topic.

[Mark Cheathem]

The standard work on U.S. expansion in the Gulf region during the Jefferson/Madison/Monroe administrations.