Download our Logo
Vol. 26:2 ISSN 0160-8460 June 1998
Early U.S. Diplomatic History Classroom Reader Published
The NHPRC wishes to announce the availability of Documents of the Emerging Nation: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1775-1789, a college-level classroom reader based upon its award-winning three-volume documentary edition The Emerging Nation: A Documentary History of the Foreign Relations of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, 1780-1789 (Washington, 1996). The reader is the work of Editor-in-Chief Mary A. Giunta and Associate Editor J. Dane Hartgrove, with Norman A. Graebner, Peter P. Hill, and Lawrence S. Kaplan serving as consulting editors.
From the Declaration of Independence until the establishment of the First Federal Congress, the emerging nation of the United States of America was engaged in critically important foreign policy matters. Wartime diplomacy, treaties with France, negotiation of territorial conflicts with Spain, agreements on Anglo-American commerce, and relations with the Barbary States and other countries challenged the nation's strength.
Documents of the Emerging Nation: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1775-1789 traces the efforts of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, and others to establish a credible international presence for the country as a new nation. The primary source documents begin with the formation of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, America's first official diplomatic entity, and end with diplomatic efforts at the time of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Diplomatic despatches, private letters, and other documents from archives, libraries, and historical societies - including the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and French and British sources - reveal actions and events in the formative years of U.S. diplomacy. Foreign-language documents, including those located in the French Foreign Affairs Archives, have been translated - many for the first time.
This reader provides a selection of documents to introduce students and others to the early years of United States diplomacy. A detailed introductory essay and headnotes provide the user with the information necessary to understand the historical context of the documentation. The reader is particularly valuable for undergraduate and graduate courses in diplomatic history, early U.S. history, and international relations. Documents of the Emerging Nation is also invaluable to political scientists, government officials, and individuals interested in the development of early U.S. foreign policy.
Published for the Commission by SR Books, a division of Scholarly Resources, Inc., 104 Greenhill Avenue, Wilmington, DE 19805-1897, telephone 800-772-8937, fax 302-654-3871, e-mail market@scholarly.com, the reader sells for $55 in hard cover (ISBN 0-8420-2663-0) and $19.95 in paperback (ISBN 0-8420-2664-9).
PARTIAL TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Historical Background
Part One: Wartime Diplomacy
- Beginnings of U.S. Diplomacy
- French Aid Prior to Formal Treaties
- The Problems Facing France
- Negotiating the Treaties with France
- Negotiations with Spain
- Early Peace Efforts
- Negotiating the Treaty of Peace
Part Two: Postwar Diplomacy
- Anglo-American Commerce
- Postwar Diplomacy with France
- Postwar Diplomacy with Spain
- Other Diplomatic Fronts
- The Barbary Powers
- The Far East Trade
- Relations with Native Americans
- Toward Federal Diplomacy
