Description
Book SynopsisUsing coal as a barometer of economic change, Old Dominion, Industrial Commonwealth addresses longstanding questions about North-South economic divergence and the role of state government in American industrial development, providing new insights for both political and economic historians of nineteenth-century America.
Trade ReviewFor anyone interested in state policies, paths of economic development, and antebellum political economy, this study is necessary reading. Choice 2005 Adams's innovative study has opened up a new arena for investigation and, judging from the richness of his analysis, one with great potential. -- Edward J. Davies, II Journal of American History 2005 Adams makes good use of the available primary and secondary sources in support of his thesis. -- Willard Carl Klunder Historian 2006 Historians of many fields will want to take note. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 2006 Explaining the troubled present is not Adam's objective, but his book provides a powerful tool for doing just that. -- Warren R. Hofstra Common-Place 2006 As with any successful study, this one answers some questions and provokes others... One hopes that rather than this being the last word on the subject, it serves as a call for further investigation. -- Andrew M. Schocket Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2006 An engaging and persuasive work that addresses in a highly accessible manner the intricacies of state-level politics and economic decision-making. -- James Campbell Journal of American Studies 2006 Thoroughly researched, attractively written, and nicely produced, with clear maps and useful data graphs. -- Howell John Harris History 2006 An impressive exemplar of comparative history. Adams is a gifted writer with an excellent eye for detail. -- John Majewski Enterprise and Society 2006 Profoundly powerful insights into the importance of political and economic institutions. -- Robert E. Wright Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2007 This is economic history as it should be written... Adams has created an important and highly readable interpretation of Virginia and Pennsylvania's economic history in the early and mid-1800s, and I commend him. -- Paul Salstrom West Virginia History Rooted in impressive scholarship in the archives, and with a sound knowledge and understanding of the secondary sources, it merits a wide readership. -- Neville Kirk Economic History Review
Table of ContentsList of Figures, Maps, and Tables
Series Editor's Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Political Economy of Coal
1. The Intersection of Politics and Geology: America's First Coal Trade
2. The Commonwealth's Fuel: The Rise of Pennsylvania Anthracite
3. Trunk and Branch: State Internal Improvement Networks and the Coal Trade
4. "Hidden Treasures" and Nasty Politics: Antebellum Geological Surveys in Pennsylvania and Virginia
5. Miners without Souls: Corporations and Coal in Pennsylvania and Virginia
6. Three Separate Paths: The Impact of the Civil War
Epilogue: Capture and Confusion
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index
