Part 1. Taking the land -- Before the land was taken -- The British and the Americans take the Chesapeake -- The land of San Francisco Bay: cleared but not taken -- pt. 2. Making the municipality: the city and the pueblo -- Erecting Baltimore into a city : democracy as urban space, 1796-1819 -- Shaping the spaces of California : ranchos, plazas and pueblos, 1821-1846 -- pt. 3. Making the modern capitalist city -- Making Baltimore a modern city, 1828-1854 -- The capitalist "pueblo" : selling San Francisco 1847-1856 -- pt. 4. These united cities -- Baltimore, San Francisco and the Civil War -- Epilogue.