What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe

What hath God wrought is an extensive historical analysis of the United States between the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.
On the positive side, the political evolution and the choices that the American public faced during those years are made quite clear. America’s white males had to choose between Democratic backwardness championned by the likes of Andrew Jackson and the progressive views of Henry Clay and John Quicy Adams.

The slaveowning South, who had the indecency to treat blacks like chattel, was able to count as a 3/5 citizen every slave (who coudn’t vote, of course), thus controling the electoral college, House of Representatives and Executive. In essence, the slaveholding South held the reins and was able to reject any attempt at progress held dear by the industrial North.

That is quite clear reading the book. However, many pages are devoted to the Millenium, or, if you will, the Second Coming of Christ. It’s hard to phantom that the Millenium had so much of an influence on daily politics and life. In any case, too much space is devoted to it.

I’d give the book a five 5 if it wasn’t for the impressive amount of ink spent on it.

Great, comprehensive look at American society and politics in the Antebellum era. The importance of religion was especially striking. Even atheists and agnostics should recognise the valuable role it played in history, because Howe shows that American Protestantism inspired more progressive movements than anything else in the country. JQ Adams, Charles Finney, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others all shine as American luminaries.

The Jacksonian Democrats can more easily be painted as villains due to their hardline anti-Native and pro-slavery policies, which Howe documents extensively. But even they enshrined principles that are now taken seen as cornerstones of American culture- acceptance of immigrants, support for democracy abroad, supporting the rugged individual over an elite. Despite being less in favour of internal improvements and infrastructure than the Federalists + Whigs, the Democrats also supported the concept of modernisation.

Daniel Walker Howe is Rhodes Professor of History at Oxford (Emeritus) and Emeritus Professor of History at the University of California and in this book he has provided us with a sensible, thorough, wise, balanced and thoughtful history of America from 1815 through 1848. It richly deserves the Pulitzer Prize in History which it won in 2007 and represents history as I like to see it written.

It’s long – 855 pages – and I thought it spent a bit too much print on the politics of the time; but there was much to cover and Professor How did a magnificent job.

Writing a “review” of a book like this isn’t easy. One can’t go over the history again. About all one can do is tell you what it covers and then urge you to read it for yourself. Fact of the matter is that I had never known the history of the period covered by the book and I came away impressed with what was accomplished and what changed in the United States in the 33 years between the Battle of New Orleans January 1, 1815 and the discovery of gold in California and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

On the positive side there was the tremendous growth of the market economy, the territorial expansion of the country to include the “West” as it is today – all the way to the Pacific – including Texas, all of Mexican Alta California (including what is now Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah as well as California) and the Oregon Territory (Now Oregon and Washington)) and the awakening of the Protestant churches whose moralistic vigor gave us opposition to slavery, educational institutions (mainly colleges and universities) and the beginnings of the women’s movement with the Seneca Convention of 1848. Of doubtful benefit but listed as advantage rather than disadvantage was the establishment of mass political parties, particularly encouraged by Andrew Jackson who has earned my nomination for the title of greatest political villain of the time.

There were the negatives too – poverty, demagoguery, disregard for legal restraints (Indian Removal), the perpetuation and expansion of slavery and the waging of aggressive war against Mexico.

Population increased from 8,3 million in 1815 to 22 million in 1848 with a huge influx of immigrants from Germany and particularly Ireland.

The growth of the press, the establishment of the canal system (Erie Canal completed in 1825), the construction of roads (the National Road completed from Baltimore through the Cumberland Gap to Vandalia Illinois in 1834), the start of a network of railroads (started in 1834 there were 7,500 miles of track by 1848) and most importantly the invention of the telegraph in 1844 and its instant popularity provided a communication and transportation revolution which tied the country together in terms of distance and speed as nothing has done until the technological revolution of the twentieth century.

Politically the Virginians (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe) and the Massachusetts Adams (John and John Quincy) who governed during an Era of Good Feeling gave way to rabble (Andrew Jackson) that not only instituted partisan political warfare between parties but also enlarged the suffrage to include non-property owners – but no slaves and no women voted. Jackson founded what is now the Democratic Party. The party of John Quincy was the Whigs who eventually (Abraham Lincoln) morphed into the Republican Party.

Constitutionally the President (Jackson) emerged with more power, the states with less (Dartmouth College Case -nullification defeat of south Carolina claim that State had right to overrule Federal legislation)

And finally the insidious problem of slavery slowly grew to permeate all political consideration, all social action and most all discussion. It was a moral, economic and political problem, which would bring us to Civil war 12 years after the end of the period covered by this excellent book.

Presidents of the period covered by the book:
James Madison – 1812
James Monroe – 1816
John Quincy Adams – 1824 (most intelligent by far)
Andrew Jackson – 1826
Andrew Jackson – 1830
Martin Van Buren – 1836
William H. Harrison – 1840 – died one month in office – succeeded by Martin Van Buren to end of term
James K Polk – 1844
Zachary Taylor – 1848.

JBP 9/1/09