American Commonwealths

Illustrations and text present the history, geography, people, politics and government, economy, and social life and customs of Maryland.

Author Jacob Piatt Dunn (1855-1924) was a journalist, ethnologist and historian who grew up in Indiana and published his first book on history in 1886. Among his publications were a history of Indianapolis and a dictionary of the Miami language. He served as the recording secretary of the Indiana Historical Society for over 35 years, and served four years as the state librarian of Indiana. Other Indiana books by Dunn can be found on this website. In the Preface the author wrote that most people did not know that slavery had ever existed in Indiana, or if they did, they “…regarded it merely as one of the incongruities of frontier life, – an unlawful condition which nothing but the imperfection of government permitted to exist. A like haziness has enveloped the petitions of Indiana for the further admission of slavery.” “The historical fact that the local slavery question was the paramount political influence in Indiana, up to the time of the organization of the state government, has never been hinted at.”

This volume represents Thwaites’ understanding of Wisconsin history in his maturity, after many years of research. That research included his study of a large mass of documents from France that became available around the turn of the century. By the time he wrote this book, Thwaites’ views had changed about French and British influence on the 19th century development of Wisconsin. He now considered that even though Great Britain had dominated Wisconsin from 1760 to 1815, the longer-term British influence on the state was fairly negligible. Instead, as the title indicates, Thwaites thought that when the New England yankees arrived, Wisconsin was still French in many ways. He also stresses in this volume the major cultural and political impact of European immigrants, particularly the Germans, who arrived during the formative years of Territorial government and early statehood.

Describes the history, geography, ecology, people, economy, cities, and sights of the state of Virginia, and includes ideas for classroom assignments. This revised third edition takes an updated look at the geography, history, government, people, culture, and attractions of Virginia.