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The Long Road to Annapolis: The Founding of the Naval Academy and the Emerging American Republic Hardcover – June 1, 2010

by William P. Leeman (Author)

5 customer reviews

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The United States established an academy for educating future army officers at West Point in 1802. Why, then, did it take this maritime nation forty-three more years to create a similar school for the navy? The Long Road to Annapolis examines the origins of the United States Naval Academy and the national debate that led to its founding.

Americans early on looked with suspicion upon professional military officers, fearing that a standing military establishment would become too powerful, entrenched, or dangerous to republican ideals. Tracing debates about the nature of the nation, class identity, and partisan politics, William P. Leeman explains how the country's reluctance to establish a national naval academy gradually evolved into support for the idea. The United States Naval Academy was finally established in 1845, when most Americans felt it would provide the best educational environment for producing officers and gentlemen who could defend the United States at sea, serve American interests abroad, and contribute to the nation's mission of economic, scientific, and moral progress.

Considering the development of the naval officer corps in relation to American notions of democracy and aristocracy, The Long Road to Annapolis sheds new light on the often competing ways Americans perceived their navy and their nation during the first half of the nineteenth century.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 312 pages
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; 1 edition (June 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0807833835
ISBN-13: 978-0807833834
Product Dimensions: 10 x 5.8 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,901,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4672 in Books > History > Military > Naval
- #19834 in Books > History > Military > United States
- #23164 in Books > Education & Teaching > Higher & Continuing Education

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The Debate Over the Naval Academy

By Rob Hardy HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on September 22, 2010

Format: Hardcover

Along with the pages of other stuff I and other plebes entering the Naval Academy had to memorize years ago were the words of John Paul Jones: "It is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor." It turns out that we midshipmen were hoaxed; only over the past few years has it become plain that Jones never wrote such things but that the words were written by one of his first biographers and then attributed to Jones. Perhaps because I still have them memorized they do sound like Jones's opinion, and this is verified by _The Long Road to Annapolis: The Founding of the Naval Academy and the Emerging American Republic_ (University of North Carolina Press) by William P. Leeman. America's first great naval hero is indeed on authoritative record as recommending formal academy instruction for America's officers as early as 1782, as part of his dream of the new nation becoming a first-rate naval power, with himself in command. It did not come to pass then, and it was not until 1845 that a naval academy was begun, even though we had the Military Academy at West Point starting in 1802. Leeman's book is not just a history of the delay in forming a naval academy and how it was overcome; it represents an overview of the young nation's ambivalent attitude toward the military overall, and its initially reluctant acceptance of a professional officer corps.

Americans were proud of their first great military victory in the Revolution, but they distrusted standing armies and professional navies.Read more ›

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The Professionalization of American Naval Officer Education

By A. A. Nofi on August 29, 2015

Format: Hardcover

A summary of the review on StrategyPage.Com:

'Prof. Leeman (USMA) gives us a very readable account of the painful evolution of professional naval officer education in the U.S. Navy. Extensively researched and wide ranging, the book opens with a look at the officering of the Continental Navy and follows with the debate over the need for a Navy in the Early Republic. It then looks at the fortunes of America’s Navy as it evolved with the growth of commerce, leading to wars with the Barbary states, Republican France, and Britain, as well as anti-piracy patrol in the Caribbean and Eastern Mediterranean. Through the entire period, officer education remained a rather slip-shod process of on-the-job training, which produced officers of uneven skill. Many serious thinkers, including some of the Founders, most notably George Washington, proposed a more formal academic process. But while the Army acquired a Military Academy by 1802, proposals for a more formal naval officer training program languished. Leeman explores the arguments over establishing a formal naval officer training program, ranging from concerns over “Big Government” through fear of “aristocracy” to worries over cost. He makes a case that the still very confusing the Somers mutiny of 1842 played a critical role in the establishment of the Naval Academy in 1845 by order of Secretary of the Navy Bancroft, later confirmed by Congress. In the process of telling this tale, Leeman not only gives us an account of how the Naval Academy came to be, but also surveys the early history of the Navy, gives us a peek at the politics of the emerging republic, and a look at some very interesting people, from well-known political figures to rather obscure naval officers.'

For the full review, see StrategyPage.Com

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Long road

By JAGman on August 29, 2010

Format: Hardcover

This will certainly be a long road but the author begged for that comment. Seems he also knew the personal opinions of many of his characters. Very convenient.

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The role of the U.S. Navy in the development of our Nation.

By John M. on August 1, 2014

Format: Paperback

Not only is this book a history of the Naval Academy, it is an excellent history of the early days of the United States Navy. The author did a great job of researching the facts. The book is an interesting read; and very well written. I was interested to see how conservative our forefathers were. They were very good stewards of the people's money and took their responsibilities seriously, unlike some of our government officials today. As a Navy veteran, who served with several Annapolis graduates, I enjoyed the book very much.