This is the first comprehensive account of the US Coast Guard from its birth as the Revenue Cutter Service to its emergence from the Civil War. And, along with this story of the Coast Guard's early years, a fascinating picture emerges of America as a young republic - one of the most important and neglected chapters in US history. The book shows how the service, as collector of the nation's revenue, combined a spirit of enterprise with acknowledgment of individual freedoms to establish respect for the new constitution and the rule of law. Because of its early success, the Revenue Cutter Service was later given such difficult and controversial tasks as enforcing Jefferson's embargo, upholding national sovereignty in the Nullification Controversy, and returning fugitive slaves to their masters under the Compromise of 1850. Drawing on valuable primary source material, the author reveals new details on the myriad of duties performed by the Revenue Service, including its actions as an adjunct to the US Navy - in the quasi war with France, the war of 1812, the Seminole war, the Mexican war, and finally the Civil War. In recreating these events Irving King provides intriguing new material for those concerned with US and maritime history. In his engaging, straightforward style, he also uncovers the trials and tribulations of the early Coast Guard as it takes on pirates, rescues mariners in distress, and institutes programmes of winter cruising and service-wide medical care. Irving King, author of "George Washington's Coast Guard", is Professor of History and Head of the Department of Humanities at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent history of Coast Guard's antecedents,
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This review is from: The Coast Guard Under Sail: The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, 1789-1865 (Hardcover)
The book shows how the early Coast Guard, as collector of the nation's revenue, combined the spirit of enterprise with acknowledgement of individual freedoms to establish respect for the new Constitution and the rule of law
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