Includes bibliographical essay. Includes index.

Introduction -- Prologue: The defeat of the past -- The continental setting -- From the jaws of defeat -- An era of good and bad feelings -- The world that cotton made -- Awakenings of religion -- Overthrowing the tyranny of distance -- The improvers -- Pursuing the millenium -- Andrew Jackson and his age -- Battles over sovereignty -- Jacksonian democracy and the rule of law -- Reason and revelation -- Jackson's third term -- The new economy -- The Whigs and their age -- American renaissance -- Texas, Tyler and the telegraph -- Westward the star of empire -- The war against Mexico -- The revolution of 1848 -- Finale: a vision of the future.