American Idea of England, 1776-1840: Transatlantic Writing

Arguing that American colonists who declared their independence in 1776 remained tied to England by both habit and inclination, Clark traces the new Americans' struggle to come to terms with their loss of identity as British, and particularly English, citizens. Clark's study shows that any attempt to examine what it meant to be American in the New Nation must be situated within the context of the Anglo-American relationship.