The Boundless Frontier: America From Christopher Columbus to Abraham Lincoln

The Boundless Frontier follows the major events of American History from the pre-Columbian Indians through the Civil War. This comprehensive reader presents the development of America as it changed from an unexplored Indian land into a "civilized" and unified country as the Europeans and their descendents pushed into the frontier, constantly moving the borders to the west. James T. Wall depicts this development of a nation through this gradual engulfing of land to its sophistication as technology guided its evolution and a new democratic government took over. He notes the effects of other countries on the nature of America, while describing their relationship with the people there. Yet, Wall focuses on the growth and conflict that evolved as a vast frontier became a unified country that suffered from many internal and external conflicts. He ends with the conflict that temporarily divided the United States, the Civil War.