Measuring America how the United States was shaped by the greatest land sale in history

Explains how a single system of weights and measures was developed in order to help survey and map out the vast lands west of the Ohio River and examines the impact of the system on American history and culture.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Linklater, Andro (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Plume, ©2003.
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Table of Contents:
  • 1. The invention of landed property
  • 2. Precise confusion
  • 3. Who owned America
  • 4. Life, liberty, or what
  • 5. Simple arithmetic
  • 6. A line drawn in the wilderness
  • 7. The French dimension
  • 8. Democratic decimals
  • 9. The birth of the metric system
  • 10. Dombey's luck
  • 11. The end of Putnam
  • 12. The immaculate grid
  • 13. The shape of cities
  • 14. Hassler's passion
  • 15. The dispossessed
  • 16. The limit of enclosure
  • 17. Four against ten
  • 18. Metric triumphant
  • Epilogue : the witness tree.