Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Imperium in Imperio and the division of sovereignty in American literature and public argument -- "In the heart of so powerful a nation" : Cherokee sovereignty, political allegiance, and national spaces -- "And Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands" : African colonization, divided sovereignty, and rhetorics of an African imperium -- "Space for action" : divided sovereignty, political allegiance, and African American nationhood in the 1850s -- "An Irish Republic (on paper)" : the Fenian Brotherhood, virtual nationhood, and contested sovereignties -- "China in the United States" : extraterritorial sovereignty, the six companies, and rhetorics of a Chinese imperium -- Conclusion: Becoming minority nations in nineteenth-century America.

"In 18th- and 19th-century debates about the constructions of American nationhood and national citizenship, the frequently invoked concept of divided sovereignty signified the division of power between state and federal authorities and/or the possibility of one nation residing within the geopolitical boundaries of another. Political and social realities of the 19th century (immigration, slavery, westward expansion, indigenous treaties, financial panics, etc.) amplified anxieties about threats to national/state sovereignty. Rochelle Zuck argues that, in the decades between the ratification of the Constitution and the publication of Sutton Griggs's novel Imperium in Imperio in 1899, four racial and ethnic populations were most often referred to as nations within the nation: African Americans, Cherokees, Irish Americans, and Chinese Americans. Writers and orators from these groups engaged the concept of divided sovereignty to assert individual, communal, and national sovereignty (not just ethnic or racial identity), to gain political traction, and to complicate existing formations of nationhood and citizenship. Their stories intersected with issues that dominated 19th-century public argument and contributed to the Civil War. In five chapters focused on these groups, Zuck reveals how constructions of sovereignty shed light on a host of concerns including regional and sectional tensions; territorial expansion and jurisdiction; economic uncertainty; racial, ethnic, and religious differences; international relations; immigration; and arguments about personhood, citizenship, and nationhood"--Provided by publisher.

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