States' Rights & Federal-State Relationships

and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States by John Lauritz Larson.

Larson is a professor of history and a historian-author whose works, looking at his bibliography, seem to encompass topics such as this one. At first, it seems from the title alone, that the book would be a discussion of how the Federal Government developed policies of building infrastructure (roads, highways, bridges, canals and so on) that would unite and bind the country together. However, the book is actually about states' rights and Federal-State relationships, focusing on the major decision of letting the development of these national constructions to the states, localities, and private companies.

Larson at times is apologetic about his work, fearing that it might be boring, but according one of his arguments, such an act was important and essential. "By withdrawing the government from policy making, Jacksonians empowered markets, perhaps by default, both in politics and enterprise, as arbiters of conflict in American society" (p. 192). That concept of letting the free market decide was intriguing and is at the root of his thesis which is this: "Would the United States be better off had it established a strong tradition of national planning of internal improvements instead of leaving it to the states."

Sub Topics Used by Larson in Support of his Thesis