Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic

The United States experienced a land speculation frenzy in the first quarter-century after its founding, driven by ambition, corruption, capitalism, and statecraft. Patriot leaders hoped to pay for the War for Independence by selling expropriated land directly to white farmers, but obstacles such as an economic depression and Native American resistance led to the emergence of wily merchants, lawyers, planters, and financiers who lobbied governments to convey massive tracts for pennies an acre. This led to the creation of a financialized frontier, transforming vast swaths of contested land into abstract commodities and making Native dispossession a founding premise of the American republic.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 19 September 2023
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

The United States experienced a land speculation frenzy during the first quarter-century after its founding, which was unprecedented in intensity and scale. In his book "Speculation Nation," Michael A. Blaakman explores the revolutionary origins of this real-estate bonanza, which spanned millions of acres from Maine to the Mississippi and Georgia to the Great Lakes. Patriot leaders initially hoped to pay for the War for Independence and establish a republican society of propertied citizens by selling expropriated land directly to white farmers. However, obstacles such as an economic depression and the resistance of Native nations led to the failure of these democratic plans. Wily merchants, lawyers, planters, and financiers rushed into the breach, lobbying governments to convey massive tracts of land for pennies an acre, hounding revolutionary veterans to sell their land bounties for a pittance, and marketing the rustic ideal of a yeoman's republic. When the land business crashed in the late 1790s, scores of land-mad speculators found themselves imprisoned for debt or declaring bankruptcy. However, U.S. speculators and statesmen had spawned a distinctive and enduring form of settler colonialism: a financialized frontier that transformed vast swaths of contested land into abstract commodities. This form of settler colonialism continues to shape the United States today, with its legacy of inequality, dispossession, and environmental degradation.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781512824483