Historical Analysis of Filibustering in Antebellum America

Robert E. May's 426-page book 'Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America' examines private military expeditions in 19th-century America. The study, published in 2002 by the University of North Carolina Press, investigates the origins, motivations, logistics, and cultural impact of these illegal schemes. It argues filibustering was linked to slavery debates, damaged U.S. foreign policy, and ironically limited territorial expansion.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the link between filibustering and the sectional controversy over slavery based on the book's central argument.
• Studying the motivations and logistics of private military expeditions based on the detailed examination of schemes.
• Researching the role of filibustering in American popular culture based on the cultural investigation described.
• Examining government enforcement failures against illegal expeditions based on the analysis of U.S. intervention efforts.

Strengths

• Extensively researched 426-page monograph providing a detailed historical analysis.
• Examines nearly every aspect of filibustering, including context, motivations, logistics, and cultural impact.
• Organized into three thematic parts for structured exploration of the topic.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for quantitative analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data format and structure are unspecified in the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

Robert E. May, University of North Carolina Press.

Collection Method

Scholarly historical research and analysis.

Time Range

Focus on Antebellum America (19th century), with origins tracing to early republic.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

United States, with expeditions targeting Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and other Central American nations.