Mayhew applies a modern concern with the politics of geography to the practice of geography in the past.  The question he asks is:  how political was that geography in the eighteenth century?  To investigate that question, he examines case studies of two popular British authors from earlier and later in the eighteenth century:  Thomas Salmon and William Guthrie.  Note the simple precision of how he sets up the historical problem -- this is what you will be doing in your papers, and Mayhew is a decent model.  He is less helpful, however, in terms of the historical conclusions he offers, since he does not deal so effectively with change over time -- i.e., the difference between Salmon's earlier moment and Guthrie's later moment.

1a.  How does "America" fit into the politics of British geography?  This is not Mayhew's concern, but this is a question you can ask, since sometimes important points work more by absence.

1b.  As you think about writing up your own research in a few weeks from now, let us scrutinize Mayhew.  Does he give you enough background information at all moments in the essay?  When is he helpful, and when is he not helpful?

Bruckner describes a nationalistic political project of American geography, in the aftermath of the War of American Independence.  Geographic authors sought, for instance, to construct a stable image of the territorial nation at a time when it was actually fragile, fragmentary, small, and encroached upon by foreign powers.  They also sought to construct a national identity at a time when most people put primacy on their state identities.  And they increasingly sought to advance the cause of an American empire moving westward.

2a.  Once again, geography is analyzed for its political purposes, rather than its descriptiveness.  What kinds of evidence does Bruckner provide to get at a sense of political purpose, when most of the books are filled with descriptive data?

2b.  And again, as you think about your own research in the weeks ahead, what do you need to keep your eyes out for as you do you research into primary sources to get a sense of the political purposes underlying the descriptive data you will encounter yourself?  (The devil is NOT in the details, but somewhere else -- that's what you will have to pay special attention to.)