The Political Economy of the American Frontier PDF
Preview The Political Economy of the American Frontier
ThePoliticalEconomyoftheAmericanFrontier This book offers an analytical explanation for the origins of and change in property institutions on the American frontier during the nineteenth cen- tury.Itsscopeisinterdisciplinary,integratinginsightsfrompoliticalscience, economics, law, and history. This book shows how claim clubs – informal governments established by squatters in each of the major frontier sectors ofagriculture,mining,logging,andranching–substitutedforthestateasa source of private property institutions and how they changed the course of whoreceivedalegaltitle,andforwhatprice,throughoutthenineteenthcen- tury.Unlikeexistinganalyticalstudiesofthefrontierthatemphasizeoneor twosectors,thisbookconsidersallmajorsectors,aswellastherelationship between informal and formal property institutions, while also proposing a noveltheoryofemergenceandchangeinpropertyinstitutionsthatprovides aframeworktointerpretthecomplicatedhistoryoflandlawsintheUnited States. IliaMurtazashviliiscurrentlyanassistantprofessorintheGraduateSchool ofPublicandInternationalAffairs,UniversityofPittsburgh.HeholdsaPhD in political science and an MA in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Murtazashvili’s research focuses on politicaleconomyandinstitutionaldesign.Heistheco-author,withDonald Alexander Downs, of Arms and the University: Military Presence and the CivicEducationofNon-MilitaryStudents(Cambridge,2012). PoliticalEconomyofInstitutionsandDecisions SeriesEditors StephenAnsolabehere,HarvardUniversity JeffryFrieden,HarvardUniversity FoundingEditors JamesE.Alt,HarvardUniversity DouglassC.North,WashingtonUniversityofSt.Louis OtherBooksintheSeries AlbertoAlesinaandHowardRosenthal,PartisanPolitics,Divided GovernmentandtheEconomy LeeJ.Alston,ThrainnEggertsson,andDouglassC.North,eds., EmpiricalStudiesinInstitutionalChange LeeJ.AlstonandJosephP.Ferrie,SouthernPaternalismandtheRiseof theAmericanWelfareState:Economics,Politics,andInstitutions, 1865–1965 JamesE.AltandKennethShepsle,eds.,PerspectivesonPositive PoliticalEconomy JosephineT.Andrews,WhenMajoritiesFail:TheRussianParliament, 1990–1993 JeffreyS.BanksandEricA.Hanushek,eds.,ModernPoliticalEconomy: OldTopics,NewDirections YoramBarzel,EconomicAnalysisofPropertyRights,2ndEdition YoramBarzel,ATheoryoftheState:EconomicRights,LegalRights, andtheScopeoftheState RobertBates,BeyondtheMiracleoftheMarket:ThePoliticalEconomy ofAgrarianDevelopmentinKenya JennaBednar,TheRobustFederation:PrinciplesofDesign CharlesM.Cameron,VetoBargaining:PresidentsandthePoliticsof NegativePower KellyH.Chang,AppointingCentralBankers:ThePoliticsofMonetary PolicyintheUnitedStatesandtheEuropeanMonetaryUnion PeterCowheyandMathewMcCubbins,eds.,StructureandPolicyin JapanandtheUnitedStates:AnInstitutionalistApproach ContinuedaftertheIndex The Political Economy of the American Frontier ILIA MURTAZASHVILI UniversityofPittsburgh 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107019126 (cid:2)C IliaMurtazashvili2013 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2013 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Murtazashvili,Ilia,1975– ThepoliticaleconomyoftheAmericanfrontier/IliaMurtazashvili,UniversityofPittsburgh. pagescm.–(Politicaleconomyofinstitutionsanddecisions) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-01912-6(hardback) 1.Landtenure–West(U.S.)–History–19thcentury. 2.Landsettlement–West(U.S.)– History–19thcentury. 3.Landclaimassociations–West(U.S.)–History–19thcentury. 4.Agriculture–Economicaspects–West(U.S.)–History–19thcentury. 5.Minesandmineral resources–Economicaspects–West(U.S.)–History–19thcentury. 6.Logging–Economic aspects–West(U.S.)–History–19thcentury. 7.Ranching–Economicaspects–West(U.S.)– History–19thcentury. 8.Frontierandpioneerlife–West(U.S.) I.Title. hd209.m87 2013 333.3(cid:3)17809034–dc23 2013012346 isbn978-1-107-01912-6Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsfor externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnotguarantee thatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents ListofMaps,Figure,andTables pageix Preface xi 1 Introduction 1 parti. theoriginsofprivatepropertyinstitutions 2 ATheoryofClaimClubs 35 3 TheConstitutionofClaimClubs 57 4 RivalstotheState 113 partii. changeinprivatepropertyinstitutions 5 TheDistributivePoliticsofSquatters’Rights 137 6 ThePoliticalEconomyofFreeLand 174 7 TheOpenFloodgateintheFarWest 198 8 ClaimClubsandLocalPolitics 220 9 Conclusion 243 References 253 Index 271 vii
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