Building a New Nation chronicles the development of the new government following the signing of the Constitution. It explores the political views of the young nation's leaders as they struggled to form a strong nation, despite the foreign and domestic dilemmas that they faced. The authors describe the beginnings of the two-party system, the administrations of the first three presidents, and key decisions by each branch of the government that shaped the future of the country.

"Vivid storytelling and authentic dialogue bring American history to life and place readers in the shoes of real people who experienced some of the most pivotal moments of the end of the American Revolution and the early years of the United States. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris and the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers of the United States needed to lay the groundwork for the new nation. Early years of government expose weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, which leads to the Constitutional Convention. The Founders begin drafting the Constitution of the United States. Readers dive into this history and make choices throughout that affect the outcome of the story. Scenarios are developed and lead up to choices, which the readers take to control the direction of the character and story. This format creates a unique and powerful experience for readers as they face the challenges and decisions that real people encountered"--

Publisher Description

Addressing questions such as, how should historians treat the earlier pasts of each country and the nationalism that guided the nation-building tasks, this book tries to put them not only in the perspective of Southeast Asian developments of the past five decades, but also the larger areas of historiography.

The United States was the first major colony to revolt successfully against colonial rule. In this sense, it was the first "new nation." To see how, in the course of American history, its values took shape in institutions may help us to understand some of the problems faced by the new nations emerging today on the world scene. In The First New Nation, two broad themes occupy Seymour Martin Lipset's attention: the social conditions that make a stable democracy possible, and the extent to which the American experience was representative or exceptional. The volume is divided into three parts, each of which deals with the role of values in a nation's evolution, but each approaches this role from a different perspective. Part 1, "America as a New Nation," compares early America with today's emerging nations to discover problems common to them as new nations, and analyzes some of the consequences of a revolutionary birth for the creation of a national character and style. Part 2, "Stability in the Midst of Change," traces how values derived from America's revolutionary origins have continued to influence the form and substance of American institutions. Lipset concentrates on American history in later periods, selecting for discussion as critical cases religious institutions and trade unions. Part 3, "Democracy in Comparative Perspective," attempts to show by comparative analysis some ways through which a nation's values determine its political evolution. It compares political development in several modern industrialized democracies, including the United States, touching upon value patterns, value differences, party systems, and the bases of social cleavage.

The volume offers a sweeping introduction to the politics of transition in the four principle nations in the African Great Lakes region.