The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 54, July 1950 - April, 1951 Page: 511

Book Reviews

interests sought to direct the thirteen states for their own ends.
Enveloped in that struggle was the complex problem of public
and private finance. There was a dearth of both paper and hard
money in the country following the revolution. The debtors and
taxpayers, Jensen says, were trapped. Everywhere during the
1780's they faced the problem of paying in hard money when
none was to be had, and when they demanded paper money,
the creditors rose in violent opposition. Many states thought the
land tax was the solution. Other states found themselves rent by
class warfare when they introduced paper money climaxed by
Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts.
These are but a few of the questions brilliantly depicted by
Jensen. The publishers have printed the book with their usual
good taste in an attractive format; the reviewer, however, wishes
they would include maps and eliminate their extravagant blurbs.
Jensen makes no claim that The New Nation is a definitive work
on the subject and leaves many paths open for exploration. A
study dealing with British and foreign opinion of America under
the Confederation would be most illuminating. The author does
not attempt to explain why the people chose the Constitution if
the Confederation government was so successful. But why quib-
ble. Jensen has produced a vigorous, readable, and scholarly
account. The New Nation is a milestone in its field, and no
historian or collector of Americana should be without it.
ELMER WILLIAM FLACCUS
Austin College
Pierre Vergniaud: Voice of the French Revolution. By Claud G.
Bowers. New York (Macmillan Company), 1950. Pp. 535-
$6.50.
Claud Bowers, with his usual flair and style, has performed a
labor of love in the production of his biography of Pierre
Vergniaud, the leading orator of the Girondin faction of the
French Revolution. The book, although including a description
of Vergniaud's early years, is primarily concerned with his activ-
ities during the period from 1791 to 1793 when the unsuccessful
struggle was being fought to keep the revolution within the
bounds of democratic theory and practice. During this period
Vergniaud was to play his unique role as the "Voice of France"
protesting against the rising terrorism and totalitarianism of the

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