The Pig War

Lasting for over twenty years, the conflict described in Pig War is more than the story of how a dispute between a burgeoning imperial power and an empire on the wane was resolved. This book gives us insight into the strategies that Washington would use in its future conquest of foreign markets. Pig War marks the emergence of a new national superpower from out of a dispute over a contested colonial territory.

“This review of the subject extends the research base into some little known archives. . ..”

Kaufman's book is workmanlike; his research is is very thorough in British and US sources. . . .Recommended. CHOICE
The Journal Of Military History
The Pig War is useful as a compact treatment of a critical period in Anglo-American relations that offers a retelling of the 1859 incident in the context of an ongoing diplomatic question….A concise supplement to studies of nineteenth century Anglo-American relations. -- Donald A. Rakestraw, Georgia Southern University Journal of American History
Finally, the "Pig War" on San Juan Island in the summer of 1859 receives its deserved place in the course of Anglo-American relations. Just as importantly, Professor Kaufman places the incident in the context of the half century border dispute in the great northwest between the two Atlantic powers, clarifying the path towards peaceful resolution. This well documented study makes a real contribution to the field of 19th century diplomatic history. -- John M. Belohlavek, Professor of History, University of South Florida

Scott Kaufman is Assistant Professor of History at Francis Marion University.

Very few people have heard of the 'Pig War,' since this episode in American history was overshadowed by the U.S. Civil War and the beginning of mass immigration from Europe. Yet this diplomatic conflict between the United States and Great Britain, resulting from the shooting of a single pig, lasted more than twenty years, and greatly impacted the relationship between the two nations. Scott Kaufman carefully examines, and places into both an American and an international context, the origins and the resolution of this tense stand-off over contested colonial territory. His story not only reveals a tense dispute between a burgeoning imperial power and a waning empire but also highlights the changing Reconstruction-era U.S. national ideology, foreign diplomacy, and control over foreign markets. The Pig War contributes greatly to nineteenth-century American and British diplomatic history and sheds new light on the emergence of the United States as an international superpower.

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