1
Stefan Heumann
University of Pennsylvania
## email not listed ##
Core – Periphery Relations and federal State-Building in American
political development
Paper prepared for presentation at the 67
th
Conference of the Midwestern Political Science
Association, April 2-5
First Draft - please do not cite without author’s permission!
Abstract:
Distinctions between core polity and territorial periphery point to an important spatial
dimension in the exercise of federal governing authority. In the core polity, the Constitution
divided governing authority between the federal government and the states. At the periphery, the
federal government exercised broad powers outside of the limitations that federalism imposed on
federal governing authority. Extensive authority and the need for government institutions made
the territorial periphery a central site for 19
th
century federal state-building. After exploring the
historical roots of federal authority over the territorial periphery, the article discusses the role of
the U.S. Army, the Indian office and the General Land Office in the establishment of governing
authority in U.S. territories during the antebellum republic. A territorial analysis of federal
state-building during the 19
th
century revises prevalent conceptions of the 19
th
century American
state. While federal authority was restrained in the core polity, sweeping federal authority and
the need for the establishment and enforcement of governing institutions made the territorial
periphery a major site of federal state-building. A revised account of 19
th
century federal state-
building acknowledges the weaknesses of the federal government at the core and emphasizes its
strengths at the periphery.
1. Introduction
In 1783 the United States did not only gain formal independence but also territorial claims
from Great Britain. The Treaty of Paris added territory to the United States demarcated by the
western boundaries of the 13 former colonies in the east, the Great Lakes in the North, the
Mississippi River in the west and Florida in the south. The status of this territory within the
Union was the source of great dispute. Those states that exerted claims to western territory
argued over boundaries, while smaller states such as Maryland and Delaware feared further
territorial aggrandizement of large states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. These
jurisdictional conflicts were resolved by the transfer of exclusive jurisdiction over western
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