Titles in the American Beginnings, 1500–1900 series address critical issues in American history from the initial period of European contact through the end of the nineteenth century. The series focuses particularly on questions of power, in all its manifold forms, as America developed from a loose collection of disparate colonies into a full-fledged nation-state. While the series does focus on institutional power—such as that exercised by governments, legal systems, and voluntary organizations—it also seeks studies of expressions of power in more intimate contexts, such as the family and the household. With its broad chronological frame, the series encourages work that moves beyond conventional periodization and in turn brings new insight to the formative influences on early America.

The series includes works by senior and junior scholars from a broad array of historical subfields, including politics, labor, race, religion, gender, and finance. In doing so, it facilitates novel interdisciplinary discussions about the practices of power in the American past.