Bøger af John Hrastar

From the earliest days of the British colonies in America, land was freely given to those willing to come and settle. Oftentimes, it was the only inducement that brought colonists to the New World. At first, colonists considered free land a privilege, but it soon came to be seen as a right. When that right was later withheld by Great Britain, the colonists rebelled. Exploring how economic hierarchies led to vast inequality in England, this book details the realization that America would provide opportunities for economic mobility. As colonists learned how to manage the land in the New World, they also learned how to govern themselves. This book emphasizes how the control of free land in America laid the groundwork for revolution. Although covered broadly in other histories, this is the first work dedicated to exploring land ownership as a unique and direct cause of the American Revolution.

In 1750 the Appalachian Mountains were both a border and formidable barrier between the English on the east and the French in the west. In 1751 a private Virginia company saw an opportunity in Ohio and pioneered a road from Maryland to Ohio; the stone-paved Cumberland Road from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, Virginia was complete by 1818 and saw its heyday over the next thirty years.