The confederation's final years: a chronology
Introduction
The search for national identity
War's aftermath
America's postwar debts: public faith or anarchy?
Republic and empire: the struggle over confederation taxes
Protecting American commerce in an imperial world
Western expansion strains
"Astonishing" emigrations and western settlement conflicts
The Spanish-treaty impasse and the union's collapse
Internal divisions : state social conflicts
Economic relief, social peace, and republican justice
Shays's rebellion: the final battle of the American revolution?
Confederation collapse and its consequences
"The truth is, we have not a government" : confederation stalemate and the road to the Philadelphia convention
Conclusion: the birth of the American empire.