In 1789 the country amounted to no more than a fragile collection of thirteen seacoast states encircled by the British empire to the north, the Spanish empire to the south, and many Native American nations to the west. By the fateful year of 1861 the United States had managed to expand across North America and to project diplomatic, commercial, military, missionary, and scientific power into every corner of the wider world, second only to the British empire. This site was an online guide to an exhibit curated by Konstantin Dierks at the the Lilly Rare Books Library at Indiana University. Of interest was the development of a connected carousal plugin which has thumbnails at the top that can be used to navigate to the larger images below.