Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Michigan
Languages : en
Pages : 748
Book Description
Historical Collections
Author: Michigan Historical Collections
Author: The Investment Frontier
Author: John Denis HaegerPublisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438405375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
The American West did not grow in isolation from the East. On the contrary, New York financiers and other eastern entrepreneurs were crucial to America's western economic development, providing the necessary capital and expertise to transform the West into a productive part of the nation's economy. This thesis is powerfully demonstrated by John Denis Haeger in this study concerning the "Old Northwest" (the present-day states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) during the years 1815-1840. The result of years of research in manuscript collections and government documents, the book provides a comprehensive picture of early land speculators, examining their investments in farm lands, town lots, banks and transportation improvements, as well as their influence on western businessmen and institutions. It also explores their political and economic affairs on the East Coast, since these matters dramatically affected the scope of their western investments. Historians' generalizations about nonresident investors or eastern speculators have previously assumed a common type and business method when, in fact, easterners possessed varying economic goals and utilized different business strategies. To demonstrate this, Haeger compares and contrasts the promoter Charles Butler and the conservative speculators Isaac and Arthur Bronson, key figures among New York's financial elite, whose careers and strategies are for the first time described in detail. The activities of these investment pioneers, whose "every move was calculated to return profits," challenge the traditional images of westward expansion as a largely unplanned and spontaneous movement of people and capital.
Michigan Historical Collections
Author: Michigan Historical CommissionPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Michigan
Languages : en
Pages : 744
Book Description
Collections and Researches Made by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society
Author: Detroit Perspectives
Author: Wilma Wood HenricksonPublisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814320136
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 612
Book Description
Using primary and secondary sources, Wilma Henrickson assembles a collection of documents related to decisive moments in the history of Detroit and the region, spanning the time from before statehood to the present. These were turning points for the region—life for the residents took a new direction, definitely closing off some options while accepting others. Some were brought about by accident; others were made by conscious decision. The consequences of some decisions were immediate, others appeared only after the accumulation of years. Among Henrickson's recurring themes are the destruction of the environment and its natural beauty, the lure of wealth, urban expansion and sprawl and civil rights. Selections include Lewis Cass' position paper on "Indian Removal," Jorge de Castellanos' article of "Black Slavery in Early Detroit," and excerpts from the writings of historian and mapmaker Silas farmer.
Federal Decisions
Author: Federal Decisions
Author: United States. CourtsPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Circuit courts
Languages : en
Pages : 942
Book Description
Michigan History
Author: The Yankee West
Author: Susan E. GrayPublisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 080786174X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
Susan Gray explores community formation among New England migrants to the Upper Midwest in the generation before the Civil War. Focusing on Kalamazoo County in southwestern Michigan, she examines how 'Yankees' moving west reconstructed familiar communal institutions on the frontier while confronting forces of profound socioeconomic change, particularly the rise of the market economy and the commercialization of agriculture. Gray argues that Yankee culture was a type of ethnic identity that was transplanted to the Midwest and reshaped there into a new regional identity. In chapters on settlement patterns, economic exchange, the family, religion, and politics, Gray traces the culture that the migrants established through their institutions as a defense against the uncertainty of the frontier. She demonstrates that although settlers sought rapid economic development, they remained wary of the threat that the resulting spirit of competition posed to their communal ideals. As isolated settlements developed into flourishing communities linked to eastern markets, however, Yankee culture was transformed. What was once a communal culture became a class culture, appropriated by a newly formed rural bourgeoisie to explain their success as the triumphant emergence of the Midwest and to identify their region as true America.