From the Editor

This issue of Early American Studies has something for everyone—everyone interested in early America, that is. From Jack Greene's account of the ways in which culture travels over time and place, to Maurice Jackson's exhaustively researched study of the effect of the Haitian Revolution on African Americans, to Wendy Castro's conclusions about the relationship between clothing and identity in captivity narratives, readers will be dazzled by the range of approaches used by historians of early America. And just when we thought there was nothing more to say about Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin, Christa Dierksheide and Edward Cahill prove us wrong by providing fresh insights into the minds of these two Founders. In a similar vein, William Bergmann takes another look at commercial development in the west and asks us to consider the role of the military in that growth spurt.

Those who take pleasure in discovering new and exciting primary sources will be delighted to meet Horace Lee, a young man from Springfield, Massachusetts, whose mid-nineteenth-century diary is published for the first time in Early American Studies. Its length forces publication in two parts: half can be found in this issue, and half will follow in Fall 2008. Rarely are we introduced to such an amiable young man whose courtships, friendships, and search for masculinity and identity provide such a good read.