The Rogue Republic
ByPublisher Description
When Britain ceded the territory of West Florida—what is now Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida—to Spain in 1783, America was still too young to confidently fight in one of Europe's endless territorial contests. So it was left to the settlers, bristling at Spanish misrule, to establish a foothold in the area.
Enter the Kemper brothers, whose vigilante justice culminated in a small band of American residents drafting a constitution and establishing a new government. By the time President Madison sent troops to occupy the territory, assert US authority under the Louisiana Purchase, and restore order, West Florida's settlers had already announced their independence, becoming our country's shortest-lived rogue "republic."
Meticulously researched and populated with some of American history's most colorful and little-known characters, this is the story of a young country testing its power on the global stage, as well as an examination of how the frontier spirit came to define the nation's character.
shows how hardscrabble frontiersmen and gentleman farmers planted the seeds of civil war, marked the dawn of Manifest Destiny, and laid the groundwork for the American empire.
"A significant study of an obscure but highly revealing moment in American history . . . Not only does Davis cast a bright light into these murky corners of our national past, he does so with a grace and clarity equal to the best historical writing today." —
starred review
"A well-documented account of 'America's second and smallest rebellion,' led by a simple storekeeper named Reuben Kemper . . . Davis tells this story with nuance and panache." —
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About William C. Davis
is the author or editor of more than fifty books in the fields of Civil War and Southern history, as well as numerous documentary screenplays. The only four-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award, he is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and serves on several other consultative bodies. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Other books by William C. Davis
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