Lecture 11 HIST 382

Summary & Outline

In a typically American view, poet William Stafford sees the prairie segment of the international border as "un-national." Somehow, though, when you investigate a little more closely, national divisions appear more and more significant. This lecture dips back into the 19th century for some historical border issues, but the emphasis is on more recent ones with specific concern to North Dakota--agricultural trade and water resources.

I. An Un-National Border?

II. Historical difficulties along the border—Oregon and so on

III. Why the 49^th Parallel?

IV. The border as a continuing issue

A. Custom harvesting as an example

B. Agricultural trade since the Free Trade Agreement

C. Garrison Diversion and Devils Lake

V. The International Peace Garden

Ties to Texts

No direct ties to texts, although I suspect if you reflect on the values and attitudes implicit in border issues, you’ll quite a few connections to points raised by Lipset.

Links for Lecture 11
William Stafford Memorial Page	Page maintained by Greywolf Press, devoted to the poet whose poem on the “un-national boundary” provides the title for the lecture.
U.S. Custom Harvesters	Organization founded in 1983, its initial issue being to exclude Canadian harvesters from the US.
Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters	Organization of Canadian harvesters, who continue to work in the US.
Garrison Diversion	Efforts to complete the project continue, and this website is an information source on the campaign.
Canadian Embassy: Garrison Diversion and Devils Lake	The Canadian case for opposition to these water projects.

HIST 382