The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865, Peterson Mark

A groundbreaking history of early America that shows how Boston built and sustained an independent city-state in New England before being folded into the United States

In the vaunted annals of Americas founding, Boston has long been held up as an exemplary city upon a hill and the cradle of liberty for an independent United States. Wresting this revered metropolis from these misleading, tired clich s, The City-State of Boston highlights Bostons overlooked past as an autonomous city-state, and in doing so, offers a pathbreaking and brilliant new history of early America. Following Bostons development over three centuries, Mark Peterson discusses how this self-governing Atlantic trading center began as a refuge from Britains Stuart monarchs and how--through its bargain with slavery and ratification of the Constitution--it would tragically lose integrity and autonomy as it became incorporated into the greater United States. The City-State of Boston peels away layers of myth to offer a startlingly fresh understanding of this iconic urban center.