{"id":148833,"date":"2025-04-29T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T17:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=148833"},"modified":"2025-04-29T11:21:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T16:21:49","slug":"university-historian-honored-with-center-for-presidential-history-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/university-historian-honored-with-center-for-presidential-history-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"University Historian Honored With Center for Presidential History Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

National award recognizes Susan Gaunt Stearns’ first book<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Clara Turnage<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Southern Methodist University<\/strong> has awarded the 2025 Center for Presidential History Book Prize<\/strong> to a University of Mississippi <\/strong>professor for her publication on the importance of the Mississippi River to post-revolution America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Gaunt Stearns<\/strong>, associate professor of history, published\u00a0Empire of Commerce: The Closing of the Mississippi and the Opening of Atlantic Trade<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(University of Virginia Press) in 2024. The\u00a0book reviews the role of trade<\/a>\u00a0on the river from 1783 to 1803 in shaping the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My book explains how, in the decades following the Revolution, the United States made the leap over the Appalachian Mountains and incorporated the Mississippi Valley with the original 13 colonies,” Stearns said. “Ultimately, I argue that it was national and international trade that created the ties that bound together the new nation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2023, the SMU\u00a0Center for Presidential History<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>each year selects a distinguished first book on U.S. presidential history. The prize includes a $2,500 stipend and will offer Stearns an opportunity to deliver the center’s annual Book Prize lecture in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Center for Presidential History has honored several great books since they began awarding the prize,” Stearns said. “Previous winners have focused on the 20th century, so I am glad to add a study that includes Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson to the mix.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Empire of Commerce<\/em>, Stearns uses primary sources such as newspapers to show how Spain’s 1784 closing of the Mississippi River influenced the young nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book prize committee unanimously praised Stearns’ book as a deep consideration of the role of commerce in early America. The committee chose Empire of Commerce<\/em> from\u00a0a wide field of submissions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I worked on this book for over a decade, and it is wonderful to find that people have not only enjoyed it, but learned something from it,” Stearns said. “I’m honored to have received the award.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
George Caleb Bingham\u2019s 1846 painting ‘The Jolly Flatboatmen’ features a lighthearted moment aboard a cargo raft traversing the Mississippi River, the beginning of the country’s western frontier and a major avenue of commerce. Susan Gaunt Stearns, University of Mississippi associate professor of history, has won the 2025 Center for Presidential History Book Prize for her work exploring the river’s role in shaping early America. The painting is the cover art for ‘Empire of Commerce: The Closing of the Mississippi and the Opening of Atlantic Trade.’ Submitted image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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