美國立國初期有著嚴重身分認同焦慮。獨立戰爭爆發非因殖民地人民意欲推翻英國統治，建立自己國家，而是殖民社會內在衝突的偶發結果。此革命運動中曖昧的政治意圖與殖民地特有的社會型態使得國家想像難以建立。尤為艱辛的是擺脫英國文化主體性一事，多數殖民地人民乃英國後裔，同文同種之特質，加之新世界貧瘠文化，強烈挫傷美國人之自我定義。若無卓越國家論述來定義自我，此民主共和國未來將岌岌可危。美國國家主義者於十九世紀初發起文學國家主義運動，冀盼能藉本土文學的出現，解決此一「後殖民」困境。但呈現在地身分的同時，他們卻又面對如何與印地安人的野蠻落後有所區分的問題。在雙重他者之間發展出己有之特質便成為美國後革命時代最迫切之工作。此外，眾多社會議題，例如黑奴制度、生態破壞、階級不公等，均強烈困擾美國人之良知與自我觀感。本論文即以社會歷史角度出發，探討庫柏的早期皮襪系列故事所反映之後殖民身分認同危機。第一章解析《拓荒者》中庫柏如何召喚革命元老高唱之共和意識型態以強化其同胞之國家想像。第二章闡釋《最後的墨希根人》對美國政權公平正義性之辯護。第三章討論《大草原》一書所顯示西部拓展對美國人自我觀感的影響。本研究之目的乃希望對庫柏在美國文學之地位有更清楚之呈現，雖然該作者此時之文學技巧未臻熟練，他卻賦予美國性格鮮明特質，並為日後作家開啟了重要主題。

Early national America was full of identity anxiety. The political ambivalence in the Revolutionary cause made it difficult for Americans to attain a proper national imagination. Especially austere was the disavowal of the British subjectivity. The new nation shared language, race and cultural heritage with the former dominator. This baffled her nationals’ sense of self. Without a national narrative to tell them what an American was, America would founder soon. In the early nineteenth century Americans launched a movement of literary nationalism in the hope of developing a native character for their new nation. But in their quest for cultural subjectivity they were in turn confronted with the disavowal of native savagism. How to define the nation against her double Other became the new republic’s ordeal. Besides this, black slavery, environmental destruction, ethnic frictions and class inequality were all social actualities that bothered Americans’conscience when they set out to search the national soul. Responding to his people’s call for a national literature, Cooper could not but face these challenges. Using the early Leatherstocking tales as my texts, this dissertation will discuss Cooper’s ways of tackling these diffiulties. Chapter one is the explication of Cooper’s conjuration of the republican ideology in The Pioneers to consolidate the national imagination in the mind of his people. Chapter two is the investigation of Cooper’s justification of the American domination of the land in The Last of the Mohicans. Chapter three discusses the impact of the western advancement on American self-perception as is revealed in The Prairie. The goal of this study is to give the reader a clearer view of Cooper’s role in American literature. Though Cooper’s literary skills were not mature, he has given the American character a distinct quality and initiated important motifs for later writers.