Among the Powers of the Earth The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire
Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire by Eliga H. Gould, published by Harvard University Press in September 2014, is a reprint edition comprising 344 pages. This book presents a nuanced exploration of the American Revolution, arguing that it was not merely a quest for independence but also a significant effort to gain recognition within the international community of the 18th century. Gould examines how the founding of America involved a complex relationship with European powers and the legal frameworks that governed them.
Readers will find that Gould’s analysis delves into the implications of the Revolution on American identity and governance. He discusses how the new nation sought to align itself with the established norms of international law while grappling with the realities of colonialism and the legacy of slavery. The book highlights the transformation of the Atlantic region and the challenges faced by Americans as they navigated their aspirations for empire amidst the existing legal and political structures of the time. Through this lens, the work contributes to the understanding of the Revolutionary Period and its lasting impact on U.S. history and international relations.
Official synopsis Publisher
For most Americans, the Revolution’s main achievement is summed up by the phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Yet far from a straightforward attempt to be free of Old World laws and customs, the American founding was also a bid for inclusion in the community of nations as it existed in 1776. America aspired to diplomatic recognition under international law and the authority to become a colonizing power itself.
As Eliga Gould shows in this reappraisal of American history, the Revolution was an international transformation of the first importance. To conform to the public law of Europe’s imperial powers, Americans crafted a union nearly as centralized as the one they had overthrown, endured taxes heavier than any they had faced as British colonists, and remained entangled with European Atlantic empires long after the Revolution ended.
No factor weighed more heavily on Americans than the legally plural Atlantic where they hoped to build their empire. Gould follows the region’s transfiguration from a fluid periphery with its own rules and norms to a place where people of all descriptions were expected to abide by the laws of Western Europe—“civilized” laws that precluded neither slavery nor the dispossession of Native Americans.
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