Measuring America
How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise Ofdemocracy
Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · September 30, 2003
In 1790, America was in enormous debt, having depleted what little money and supplies the country had during its victorious fight for independence.
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- Who it’s for
- A history of how measurement helped turn a young republic’s western land into a mapped country.
- Themes
- U.S. history, Land surveying, Measurement systems
- Genres
- Revolutionary America (1775-1800), Historical Geography, Geography
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Start with this bookAbout this book
In 1790, America was in enormous debt, having depleted what little money and supplies the country had during its victorious fight for independence. Before the nation's greatest asset, the land west of the Ohio River, could be sold it had to be measured out and mapped. And before that could be done, a uniform set of measurements had to be chosen for the new republic out of the morass of roughly 100,000 different units that were in use in daily life.
Continue reading
Measuring America tells the fascinating story of how we ultimately gained the American Customary System—the last traditional system in the world—and how one man's surveying chain indelibly imprinted its dimensions on the land, on cities, and on our culture from coast to coast.
Lines That Last
A history of how measurement helped turn a young republic’s western land into a mapped country.
Come here for
- The surprising reach of a surveying chain across land, cities, and culture.
- A fresh angle on early American history: the units used to measure it.
Expect
- A story connecting practical measurement to the shape of the nation.
- A look at the American Customary System and its origins.
Where it sits
| Revolutionary America (1775-1800) | 63% |
|---|---|
| Historical Geography | 53% |
| Geography | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Revolutionary America (1775-1800)
- Exploration & Discovery
- Geography
- Authors
- Andro Linklater
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- September 30, 2003
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- U.S. history · Land surveying · Measurement systems
- Reading lane
- Revolutionary America (1775-1800)