Beautiful machine
Subtitle: rivers and the Republican plan, 1755-1825
By: John Seelye.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 430
ISBN-13: 9780195045512
Subjects: American literature -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- History and criticism.; Rivers -- United States -- History -- 18th century.; Rivers -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; American literature -- Revolutionary period, 1775-1783 -- History and criticism.; American literature -- 1783-1850 -- History and criticism.; River engineering -- United States -- History.; Rivers in literature.; United States -- Intellectual life -- 18th century.; United States -- Intellectual life -- 19th century.; United States -- Civilization -- 1783-1865.
Description: The second volume in Seelye's series on the rivers of America in the American imagination, Beautiful Machine explores a critical, transitional period in American history, taking as its starting point the French and Indian War -- the event that determined domination of North America by an Anglo-American presence -- and ending with the opening of the Erie Canal -- the event that determined the geopolitical alignment that would guarantee a northeastern hegemony as the new nation moved West. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson figure prominently as visionaries, who saw American rivers as agents of national unity with the promise of linking Virginia's Potomac to the wealth of the Ohio Valley. - Jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 397-401) and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue : The shadow of the dome; title: Ancestral voices; title: Fertile ground; title: Garden bright with sinuous rills; title: Flashing eyes and floating hair; title: Beware! Beware!; title: The fountain and the cave; title: Damsel with a dulcimer; title: Measureless to man; title: Interlude : Milk of paradise; title: Midway on the waves; title: Stately decree; title: Through wood and dale; title: With music loud and long; title: A miracle of rare device; title: Mingled measures; title: O, that deep romantic chasm; title: Epilogue : ceaseless turmoil; title: Textus : a note