Eliga H. Gould\u2019s Among the Powers of the Earth proposed a new broader understanding of the American Revolution. The book placed a young United States into a global context, where it needed the approval of other European nations to be considered a true country. Instead of viewing the Revolution as an isolated colonial rebellion, Gould argued that this event pushed Americans to seek international power. The country needed \u201cto be accepted as a free and independent nation in Europe\u201d and also sought \u201cthe right of its citizens to pacify and control what, from a European standpoint, was still a colonial periphery\u201d (2). America had to gradually become a unified country capable of making European treaties and maintaining peaceful diplomatic relations before other countries considered it a nation.
\nOne interesting theme I found in the book was the idea of international law or the \u201claw of nations.\u201d This was a set of diplomatic rules followed by the colonial empires both in times of war and peace (5). The \u201claw of nations\u201d was significant because it spanned across different countries and colonies, regardless of a nation\u2019s distinct laws. For instance, Britain attempted to modify these rules when it tried to eliminate the slave trade in America and the rest of the colonial world during the early nineteenth century (173-174). The \u201claw of nations\u201d allowed countries to adhere to certain rules peacefully, but it also had the potential to create conflict when it interfered with the sovereignty of individual nations.
\nGould not only presented the significance of the American Revolution on a global scale, he also dealt with the international history of slavery. By way of contrast, Slavery and Public History (edited by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton) focused on the American aspects of slavery and recent controversies when historians presented such difficult history in public historical settings. While the Hortons\u2019 book provided a national understanding of slavery, Gould examined slavery\u2019s historical role from an international perspective. In addition, the book did not focus on the Indian tribes as much as in Hamalainen\u2019s Comanche Empire. However, Gould acknowledged that the Indians had some say in their political relations with the Spanish and British.
\nGould utilized several sources including pamphlets, letters, government documents, newspaper statements, and other political writings\/books from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His many examples of correspondence and political statements were helpful for understanding the opposing views between the Americans and the Europeans. Gould\u2019s consistent usage of primary sources throughout the book emphasized the complex nature of the United States\u2019 growing status as a treaty-worthy nation.
\nAlthough Americans wanted to establish a separate Republic, they also had to adapt their foreign policy to match the changing political climate of the early nineteenth century. In general, Gould\u2019s book retold early American history as a narrative based on the country\u2019s search for peaceful international relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eliga H. Gould\u2019s Among the Powers of the Earth proposed a new broader understanding of the American Revolution. The book placed a young United States into a global context, where it needed the approval of other European nations to be considered a true country. Instead of viewing the Revolution as an isolated colonial rebellion, Gould […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}