THE CHARACTER OF AMERICAN HISTORY By the same autlwr * AN AMERICAN CRISIS: CONGRESS AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-7 THE CHARACTER OF AMERICAN HISTORY BY w. R. BROCK Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge University Lecturer in American History SECOND EDITION Palgrave Macmillan 1965 Copyright © w. R. Brock, 1960 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1960978-0-333-09312-2 First Edition 1960 Second Edition 1965 MACMIlLAN AND COMPANY LIMITED Little Essex Street London WC 2 also Bombay Calcutta Madras Melbourne THE MACMIlLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED :;0 Bond Street Toronto 2 ST MARTIN'S PRESS INC 1:;5 Fift" Avenue New York NY 10010 Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 66--Il687 ISBN 978-1-349-81624-8 ISBN 978-1-349-81622-4 (eBook) DOl 10.1007/978-1-349-81622-4 TO HELEN PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION THIS BOOK is intended primarily for those with litde previous knowledge of the history of the United States; but it is hoped that those already acquainted with the history of that country will find its pages not altogether unprofitable. There is much omitted: there is litde about the history of the West, military history makes but one brief appearance, intellectual history often receives cursory treatment, and geographical factors receive short measure. For these omissions I make no apology. The main concern of the book is with politics in their broadest sense, with the art of living together in society, and I have chosen the incidents and arguments which seem to me to throw most light upon American political evolution. For me the great success of the United States lies in their political achievement, while the greatest challenge to modem Americans is the proper use of their political power. I have not attempted to equip the book with an apparatus of bibliographical references, and the footnotes are intended to illustrate, occasionally to amuse, and to introduce the reader in a fragmentary way to the rich literature of American history. This book is not an academic exercise, but I hope that those who read it will nevertheless be able to find in it some of the merits of professional history. W. R. BROCK Camhridge June 1959 vii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION I HAVE made a number of minor corrections, rearranged and expanded material in the last two chapters, and brought the narrative of events up to the death of President Kennedy. I have also revised the Guide to Further Reading. W. R. BROCK Cambridge September 1964 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABo 0 K such as this necessarily owes much to the ideas of other men. I have tried to indicate my indebtedness in the footnotes or in the Guide to Further Reading, but it is impossible to record in detail the help which I have received from conversations with American historians. I am however glad to have an opportunity of acknowledging my debt to members of the History Departments in the three American Universities with which I have been fortunate to be associated - Yale, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins. Nor can a Cambridge historian fail to pay tribute to the succession of distinguished Americans who have come to his University as Pitt Professors of American History and Institutions. I also owe much to the teaching and friendship of the American staff on the three Fulbright Conferences which I was able to attend, and to my colleagues in the British Association for American Studies. I share with many other British scholars a sense of gratitude and obligation to the Commonwealth Fund of New York, and in particular to Mr E. K. Wickman and to Mr Lansing Hammond of the Fund's Division of Education. Lastly I must thank the University of Cambridge and my own College for a generosity which made possible two highly instructive visits to the United States. ix CONTENTS PAGE Preface to the First Edition vii Preface to the Second Edition viii Acknowledgements lX Contents xi ListoJMaps xii CHAPTER I. THE FEATURES OF AMERICAN HISTORY I 2. THE ERA OF THE REVOLUTION 32 3. NATIONALISM, LOCAL AUTONOMY, AND DEMOCRACY 64 4. THE UNITED STATES IN A WORLD OF GROWTH AND CHANGE 96 5. THE ApPROACH TO CIVIL WAR 116 6. THE CIVIL WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH 142 7. THE EVOLUTION OF A LIBERAL CAPITALIST CIVILIZA- TIOO I~ 8. THE UNITED STATES IN A WORLD OF CONFLICT AND REVOLT 200 9. CONSERVATISM AND LIBERALISM 228 Appendix I: EXTRACT FROM THE PREAMBLE TO THE DE- CLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 259 Appendix II: CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 260 A GUIDE TO FURTHER READING 279 INDEX 297 xi