Description
In Columbia Rising, Bancroft Prize-winning historian John L. Brooke explores the struggle inside the young American nation over the extension of social and political rights after the Revolution. By closely examining the formation and interplay of political structures and civil institutions within the upper Hudson Valley, Brooke traces the debates over who must fall inside of and outdoor of the legally secure category of citizen. The tale of Martin Van Buren threads the narrative, since his views profoundly influenced American understandings of consent and civil society and resulted in the birth of the American birthday celebration system. Brooke’s analysis of the revolutionary settlement as a dynamic and unstable compromise over the balance of power offers a window onto an area struggle that mirrored the nationwide effort to define American citizenship.