ABSTRACT
This chapter describes use of the historical novel by American authors contributed to the Americanization of print reading, in part by offering different views of the past to inform the progress of the American republic. James Fenimore Cooper's transition from Precaution; A Novel to The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground, that is, from a novel of manners set in Britain to the first American historical novel, signaled to early critics the connection that would follow "the American Scott" throughout his career. In the wake of The Spy, the novel became a significant contributor to the many forms of republican education emerging alongside advances in literacy, reading, and education. As with other American novelists, the Waverley novels were a major influence on Simms, who wrote that Scott was "more perfect, more complete and admirable, than any writer of his age". The replacement of Pathfinder with Jasper Meredith as Mabel's preferred husband further defines Cooper's portrayal of American progress.
