territorial-governance

The chapter traces Daniel Boone's role in opening the western frontier through the Cumberland Gap, highlighting the tension between settler expansion and Native resistance, as well as the skepticism of the founding elite toward frontier settlers. It outlines the early American government's strategy of controlled territorial governance to manage expansion cautiously, prioritizing political control and delaying widespread settlement, especially after the Louisiana Purchase. Finally, it details the rapid demographic growth of the white settler population, which ultimately overwhelmed the founders' gradualist vision and fueled the ideology of manifest destiny, driving the transformation of the frontier into a settler empire.

This chapter provides extensive notes and references underpinning the historical analysis of the United States' territorial expansion and imperial governance. It elaborates on the concept of the 'Greater United States,' detailing the colonial nature of U.S. territorial administration, the demographic transformations driven by settler colonialism, and the forced removal and marginalization of Native American populations, particularly the Cherokees. The chapter also addresses historiographical foundations, including the mythologization of figures like Daniel Boone and the cultural framing of events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.