In this issue, readers will learn about the role of civilian captives in unofficial eighteenth-century diplomacy, the ways in which Second Bank of the United States president Nicholas Biddle used his professional and personal connections to contribute to the growth of the Cotton Kingdom and the forced removal of Native Americans, and Thomas Edison’s enthusiastic but ultimately unsuccessful efforts to develop a more efficient process for milling iron ore.

Contents

Front Matter

Articles

Two Barbary Captives: Allegiance through Self-Interest and International Networks, 1785–1796

Brett Goodin

“A Very Large Extent of Virgin Land”: Nicholas Biddle, Cotton, and the Expansion of Slavery, 1823–1841

Stephen W. Campbell

“Practically Intoxicated”: Thomas Edison and the Bechtelsville Ore-Mining Experiment

Daniel Weeks

Book Reviews