The First West: writing from the American frontier, 1776-1860

Abstract

A collection of American Trans-Appalachian literature from 1776-1860. Interest in the influence of the frontier on American writers has been increasing in the last decade, and this is the first anthology of literary works concerned with or originating in the Trans-Appalachian region from the Declaration of Independence to the onset of the Civil War. This volume brings together sixty selections, which trace historic events in the early westward movement in treaties with native American nations, government ordinances, slave narratives, and pioneer accounts. It also reflects the growth of creative literature in poetry and prose during the same period. Including literary and non-literary writing from such well-known figures as Thomas Jefferson, William Bartram, Margaret Fuller, Black Hawk, and Abraham Lincoln, this volume will challenge students' ideas about the American frontier, the West, and the processes of contact, settlement, community, and class.