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U.S. Territorial Expansion and State-Building: Comparative and Quantitative Perspectives |
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Abstract:
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This paper argues that imperial expansion and governance drove antebellum federal state-building in the U.S. Drawing on insights from the historical-comparative literature on state-formation in Europe, the paper claims that the acquisition, control and incorporation of new territories and the need to finance these endeavors led to the build-up of significant state capacities on the national level. Government officials chose to pursue territorial expansion through the application of military force and the projection of governing authority to constantly westward moving peripheries. This could not be achieved without significant administrative and extractive capacities. The federal government had to generate sufficient revenue to finance a military, capable of overpowering and controlling the Native population, asserting U.S. expansionism against Spain, France, Britain, and Mexico, and projecting governing authority to frontier regions. The U.S. Constitution concentrated the authority, needed to organize and finance territorial expansion, in the hands of the newly created federal government. Drawing on the model of British imperial rule, the federal government built administrative capacities in the executive to effectively push its national boundaries westward and to integrate the newly acquired territory into the American political system.
After discussing the relationship between territorial expansion and state-building, empirical evidence for the theoretical claims is presented and discussed. An analysis of the federal budget in the period from 1789 to 1859 underscores the importance of territorial expansion to antebellum state-building. Showing striking resemblances to the British “fiscal-military” state in the 18th and early 19th century, federal expenditures were mainly concentrated on the military, navy, and the retirement of war-related debt. In addition the federal government spent a large share of its budget on the acquisition and administration of western territory. The federal government relied on custom revenues and the sale of the public domain to finance the rising costs of imperial expansion. While the federal government tended to leave social and economic policies to state and local levels of governance, it developed important administrative and military capacities to finance, organize, and conduct territorial expansion across North America. |
Most Common Document Word Stems:
state (235), american (96), govern (91), feder (82), territori (75), war (73), expans (59), build (53), british (46), nation (45), capac (43), polit (41), u.s (41), militari (39), expenditur (38), new (37), 18 (36), debt (32), land (32), unit (32), administr (32), |
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American Political Development, State Building, Territorial Expansion, Comparative Politics |
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Name: MPSA Annual National Conference URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/
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Citation:
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MLA Citation:
| Heumann, Stefan. "U.S. Territorial Expansion and State-Building: Comparative and Quantitative Perspectives" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the MPSA Annual National Conference, Palmer House Hotel, Hilton, Chicago, IL, Apr 03, 2008 <Not Available>. 2008-10-22 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p268846_index.html> |
APA Citation:
| Heumann, S. , 2008-04-03 "U.S. Territorial Expansion and State-Building: Comparative and Quantitative Perspectives" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the MPSA Annual National Conference, Palmer House Hotel, Hilton, Chicago, IL Online <APPLICATION/PDF>. 2008-10-22 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p268846_index.html |
Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Abstract: This paper argues that imperial expansion and governance drove antebellum federal state-building in the U.S. Drawing on insights from the historical-comparative literature on state-formation in Europe, the paper claims that the acquisition, control and incorporation of new territories and the need to finance these endeavors led to the build-up of significant state capacities on the national level. Government officials chose to pursue territorial expansion through the application of military force and the projection of governing authority to constantly westward moving peripheries. This could not be achieved without significant administrative and extractive capacities. The federal government had to generate sufficient revenue to finance a military, capable of overpowering and controlling the Native population, asserting U.S. expansionism against Spain, France, Britain, and Mexico, and projecting governing authority to frontier regions. The U.S. Constitution concentrated the authority, needed to organize and finance territorial expansion, in the hands of the newly created federal government. Drawing on the model of British imperial rule, the federal government built administrative capacities in the executive to effectively push its national boundaries westward and to integrate the newly acquired territory into the American political system.
After discussing the relationship between territorial expansion and state-building, empirical evidence for the theoretical claims is presented and discussed. An analysis of the federal budget in the period from 1789 to 1859 underscores the importance of territorial expansion to antebellum state-building. Showing striking resemblances to the British “fiscal-military” state in the 18th and early 19th century, federal expenditures were mainly concentrated on the military, navy, and the retirement of war-related debt. In addition the federal government spent a large share of its budget on the acquisition and administration of western territory. The federal government relied on custom revenues and the sale of the public domain to finance the rising costs of imperial expansion. While the federal government tended to leave social and economic policies to state and local levels of governance, it developed important administrative and military capacities to finance, organize, and conduct territorial expansion across North America. |
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32 |
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9451 |
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| U.S. Territorial Expansion and State-Building: Comparative and Quantitative Perspectives Stefan Heumann PhD Candidate University of Pennsylvania heumann@sas.upenn.edu Midwest Political Science Association 2008 Meeting Chicago IL Session 51-1 Early American State Building Work in progress – please do not cite without the author’s permission 1 Abstract: This paper argues that imperial expansion and governance drove antebellum federal state- building in the U.S. Drawing on insights from the historical-comparative literature on state-formation in Europe the paper claims that the acquisition control |
| 2001. Sanders M. Elizabeth. Roots of reform : farmers workers and the American state 1877- 1917 American politics and political economy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1999. Skowronek Stephen. Building a new American state : the expansion of national administrative capacities 1877-1920. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press 1982. Tilly Charles. Coercion capital and European states AD 990-1990 Studies in social discontinuity. Cambridge Mass. USA: B. Blackwell 1990. Wallis John Joseph. "American Government Finance in the Long Run: |
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