What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States)

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	• What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States) Daniel Walker Howe Oxford University Press, USA, 2007 - 928 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Very well-balanced, fully detailed antebellum history

This is a history of the United States from the end of the War of 1812 to the end of the Mexican War. It is very long; it over 900 pages. It is thus not for the casual reader or those with short attention spans.

For those with the patience to appreciate it and savor it, however, this is a magnificent book. To begin, Howe's scholarship is beyond reproach. He knows his stuff, backwards and forwards, and it shows on every page. His peculiar slant is to have no peculiar slant. He covers political, social, economic, religious, intellectual, technological and military history. He really tries to cover everything, and does a magnificent job. I would say he has a bit of an anti-Jackson, pro-Whig bias, but it is slight; he really is an objective scholar.

I thought, at first, that the book was going to stink, because it has many clear signs of being written in the 21st century, by an academic, and thus being subject to all of the fads of political correctness and so forth. I found, however, that this helped the book, rather than hurt it. Academic history for the last generation has focused on the non-mainstream stories, the women, the poor, the common person, rather than the rich and the powerful Howe takes all of this new learning and incorporates it into the overall story. I was particularly impressed by his close and respectful attention to the history of American religion. Frankly, I expect a professor to be anti-religion and to sneer at the bohunks who believe in such things. Howe does not take that tone at all. Rather, his approach is to view 19th century American religion, like an anthropologist coming to a foreign nation. Which is to say, he does not assume that you know anything about it, and he explains in great detail where the different Protestant movements came from, what issues they disagreed, the contributions they made to different aspects of American life and so forth. Very informative, and not biased one way or the other.

As befits an early 21st century academic, Howe has ambivalent feelings about his subject. This shows up in the title. He is quoting Samuel Morse, who quoted the Bible in his first telegraph message. At first, I thought that Howe was mocking the quotation, and making fun of the idea that America had been produced by God. But, as I went on, I realized that Howe is not that heavy handed in his bias, and that the story he is telling is far more subtle. If there is one thing about early American that really bothers Howe, it is not so much slavery, which bothers him, of course, but is not central to his story. Rather, what bothers him is the self-assertive violence of Jackson, the conquest of the Old Southwest by Jackson and then the conquest of the north of Mexico by Polk. These actions, of course, are the ultimate violation of poltical correctness; political leaders who believe so much in America that they are willing to conquer and subjucate anyone standing in their way.

Howe tells the story well, including those who opposed Jackson and Polk at the time. Oddly, though, he seems to have some glimmerings, if not of sympathy, of at least understanding for Jackson and Polk. He actually ends up suggesting that, while this conquests were evil, perhaps they served God's purposes by making America ultimately a larger, stronger nation better able to fight the totalitiarian horrors of the 20th century. In short, when he looks at American history, he sees events that are great, terrible, inspiring and baffling, all at the same time. In the end, his title actually seems to have some reverence in it, not of the full-bodied patriotic sort, but more one of awe at the power and incomprehensibility of God and his creation. Not at all a sentiment I would expect a tenured professor to have. Bravo. A marvelous job.

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A marvelous historical account

This has to be one of the best histories published in a decade. The Oxford Series is through, well written, and very readable. Certainly they have made the period from 1813 to 1848 come alive in a tale that flows like a good novel. Somewhere between the War for Independence and the Civil War lies a significant period, this one, of which few students are well informed. This volume belongs on the shelf of every student of American History and every citizen who would be informed of the growth and development of the United States.

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Jacksonian Racism

Can you imagine a U.S. president who forces the country into an unpopular war, and when some members of Congress express doubt, he calls them unpatriotic? Hard to believe, right? Okay, maybe not.
How about a president who never doubts he is right and never apologizes when he is wrong? Who ignores the Constitution and the Supreme Court? Impossible, right? Okay, okay, so it isn't.
I'm not referring to our current president, but to two who served long ago. They are James K. Polk and Andrew Jackson, and the two are central figures in Daniel Walker Howe's WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT. It is a magnificent book--magnificent in its detailed research, magnificent in its lively prose, and magnificent in its wide scope. It covers the period from the Battle of New Orleans in January of 1815 to the presidential election of 1848, and everything in between. Jackson, Polk, and Martin Van Buren are the villains of the book. As Howe convincingly shows, their primary agenda was to spread slavery and white supremacy across the continent.
Jackson ignored the Supreme Court's decision which said that the Cherokee had title to their land. He ignored the Constitution, which said that a president could not remove funds from the National Bank. He owned slaves and supported the spread of slavery west. He showed himself to be a stubborn, narrow-minded man. Why is he considered a great president? Why does his image remain on the twenty dollar bill? Howe points out the irony of this, as Jackson was against the use of paper money, and he personally destroyed the Second U.S. Bank, which sent the country into a lengthy depression.
Polk forced a war on Mexico, then tried to blame it on them. The war was fought solely to gain land, and many Americans were embarrassed at our imperialism and our racism. Many still are.
There are those who come off very well in the book-- Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay, and Brigham Young among them. John Quincy Adams seems especially worthy of the greatness stamp. He fought for women's rights and for the rights of Native Americans to keep their traditional lands. He was a ferocious opponent of slavery, and opposed the Mexican War. Adams, it seems, was way ahead of his time. It would be much more just if he were on the twenty dollar bill, rather than Jackson.
But for true justice, we should replace Jackson with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That would show we've come full circle. I think Quincy Adams would approve.

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A tremendous undertaking and done very well

This addition to the Oxford History of the United States is truly a masterpiece covering the era of the new republic. The book begins in the aftermath of the War of 1812 and tracks the political, social, economic and cultural development of the United States through the Seneca Falls Convention and beginning of the Gold Rush. The book explores the rise of evangelicalism in the United States through the great awakening and looks at the rise of the city which organized many natavist movements. The role of slavery and the treatment of Indians is also explored in a responsible way. Although some reviewers have complained that it is revisionist there is quite a bit of truth to Howe's writing. The organizers at the time wrote about "the extermination of the Indians" and we cannot change out countries past. We can only study it and interpret what it means for our future. The United States came into its own during this time laying the seeds to become an economic powerhouse. The rise of the telegraph, railroads, canals and industry across the country shaped the United States for its rise in the 1880's.
The book is divided up amongst the major events during the time period and covers them thoroughly. The two major focus points of the book are the Jacksonian era and the age of expansion under Polk. Jackson is painted in a darker light than in many books have written about him. The author justifies his points well and his criticisms of Jackson are on target. The destruction of the bank and the spread of populism and patronage changed the United States. The Age of Expansion was another defining moment as the United State added Texas, Oregon and the southwest to its borders. Although Polk wanted to go even further he was sabotaged by his own representatives into drawing a reasonable peace with Mexico. Overall a well done book and truly a great addition to this already wonderful series.

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What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States)

And they say that knowledge is an easy burden... Beautifully written, educational, but not quite bedside literature.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in What Hath God Wrought, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates 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 revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically 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--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, 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 bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States.
By 1848 America had been transformed. What Hath God Wrought provides a monumental narrative of this formative period in United States history.

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