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What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 PDF

944 Pages·2007·20.45 MB·English
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W H AT H A TH G W R O U G HT THE T R A N S F O R M A T I ON OF AMERICA, 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 48 WHAT HATH GOD W R O U G HT THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA, 1815-1848 DANIEL WALKER HOWE THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes two Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in What Hath God Wrought, historian Daniel Walker Howe il­ luminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. Howe's panoramic narrative portrays rev­ olutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the ex­ tension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dra­ matically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. He examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs—ad­ vocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indi­ ans, women, and African Americans—were the true prophets of America's future. He reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bit­ terly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States. By 1848 America had been transformed. Wliat Hath God Wrought provides a monu­ mental narrative of this formative period in United States history. DANIEL WALKER HOWE is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus, Oxford University, and Professor of History Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of The Political Culture of the American Whigs and Making the American Self: -Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. He lives in Los Angeles. JACKET DESIGN: RACHEL PERKINS JACKET IMAGE: WHIG POLITICAL BANNER.CA 1840. TERRANCEJ. KENNEDY. COURTESY 0T. FENIMORE ART MUSEUM. C00PERST0WN. NEW YORK PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD WALKER AUTHOR PHOTO:JULIE FRANKEN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS www.oup.com Advance acclaim for WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA, 1815-1848 Daniel Walker Howe "Supported by engaging prose, Howe's "The product of a lifetime of learning, this achievement will surely be seen as one of book will captivate general read­ the most outstanding syntheses of U.S. his­ ers and spark controversy among histori­ tory published this decade." ans. Challenging standard accounts, Howe —Publishers Weekly argues that many of those maligned as 'elit­ (starred review) ists' championed the rights of women, Af­ rican Americans, and Indians and that the "The decades covered by this book wrought animating principle of Andrew Jackson's a profound transformation in American life. mythic 'Democratic' party was the extension Expansion through annexation, purchase, of white-male supremacy across the conti­ and conquest doubled the size of the Unit­ nent. Both a panoramic overview and a \ id, ed States. A revolution iu communications nuanced account of particular individuals and transportation tied these vast expanses and incidents, What Hath God Wrought re­ together and gave the economy a powerful flects Howe's mastery of the sources and his impulse. The Second Great Awakening in deep engagement with rival interpretations American Protestantism generated a host of these pivotal years." of reform movements that reshaped the po­ —James T. Kloppenberg, litical landscape. Howe has chronicled these Harvard University progressive but unsettling changes in an narrative that offers important new "A new interpretation of the his­ insights on these crucial decades." torical foundations of modern America." —James M. McPherson, —Kathryn Kish Sklar, author of Battle Cry of Freedom author of Tfie Emergence of Women's Rights within the Antislavery Movement "Probably the most culturally sensitive po­ litical history as well as the best politically "The years between the War of 1812 and informed social history ever written for this the acquisition of the far West were both transformative period in American history. enormously significant and deeply, darkly Its learning is vast, its judgments discerning, portentious. Daniel Walker Howe's history and its depiction of both triumphs and weak­ of that era is in its insights nesses of American civilization exceedingly and mature understanding and especially for well balanced. It is a splei addition to a its breadth and texture—a truly continental splendid series." perspective on the grandest events and on —Mark A. Noll, how Americans passed their days in work, University of Notre Dame moving about, and worship." —Elliott West, University of Arkansas What Hath God Wrought The Oxford History of the United States David M. Kennedy, General Editor ROBERT MIDDLEKAUFF THE GLORIOUS CAUSE The American Revolution, 1763-1789 DANIEL WALKER HOWE WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 JAMES M. MCPHERSON BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM The Civil War Era DAVID M. KENNEDY FREEDOM FROM FEAR The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 JAMES T. PATTERSON GRAND EXPECTATIONS The United States, 1945-1974 JAMES T. PATTERSON RESTLESS GIANT The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 DANIEL WALKER HOWE OXIORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2OO7 OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2007 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Howe, Daniel Walker. What hath God wrought : the transformation of America, 1815-1848 / Daniel Walker Howe, p. cm. — (Oxford history of the United States) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-507894-7 1. United States—History—1815-1861. 2. United States—Foreign relations—1815 —1861. 3. United States—Politics and government—1815-1861. 4. United States—Economic conditions—To 1865. 5. Social change—United States—History—19th century. I. Title. E338.H692007 973.5—dc22 2007012370 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To the Memory of John Quincy Adams Whatever the heats of party may be, however the tone of disappointment against Mr. Adams may sometimes rise to something too like hatred, there is undoubtedly a deep reverence and affection for the man in the nation's heart; and any one may safely prophesy that his reputation, half a century after his death, will be of a very honourable kind. He fought a stout and noble battle in Congress last session in favour of discussion of the slavery question, and in defence of the right of petition upon it; on be­ half of women as well as of men. While hunted, held at bay, almost torn to pieces by an outrageous majority—leaving him, I believe, in absolute unity—he preserved a boldness and coolness as amusing as they were ad­ mirable. Though he now and then vents his spleen with violence when disappointed in a favourite object, he seems able to bear perfectly well that which it is the great fault of Americans to shrink from, singularity and blame. He seems, at times, reckless of opinion; and this is the point of his character which his countrymen seem, naturally, least able to comprehend. —Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel, 1838

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The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American
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