In American Republics, Taylor summarizes sixty-eight years of American History in 384 pages of prose and a few pictures. He does a good job, touching on all the major issues from the Peggy Eaton affair to the Compromise of 1850, from the Battle of New Orleans to Henry Foote drawing his handgun in the Senate. Beyond providing that effective summary, Taylor gave me a better understanding of what took place outside of the United States, such as Spain's decline, the Mexican Revolution, Canadian history, and more. For a hobbyist, I was well-read concerning this period of American History--I've read four volumes of the Oxford History of the United States as well as several other texts. And Taylor puts all of this together to emphasize the fragile nature of our early republic, the threats from the outside, the threats from the inside, and this is all in a short, easy to read book that could be well-appreciated by any ill-bred commoner (my Federalist humor).
But there's a catch. On p. 4 of the hardback, we learn that in 1842, the Union was "committed to expanding slavery and crushing Indians." The Union was not committed to expanding slavery, it was bitterly divided over the issue. Of course this comes out later but when making brief, general statements, Taylor tells us the bad and leaves out the good. On p. 58, we learn that "while enslaving Black people, Americans felt outraged by the slavery of white men by the Barbary States." Which Americans? During the Barbary crisis, slavery was over or ending north of the Mason-Dixon line. There was still prejudice, and fear of free blacks, but slavery had been rejected. Taylor gives us the bad and not the good. On p. 62 we learn that "most American leaders . . . agreed that the Union needed to expand westward." What about the Whig party, which opposed expansion? Westward expansion was a divisive issue, and we learn that later, but when it comes to brief, general statements we just get one side of the story. There was even the No Territory movement, made of people who wanted to end the war with Mexico without the acquisition of any territory. On p. 235 we learn that mass production lowered the cost of manufacturing goods and enriched employers but Taylor leaves out the fact that mass production lowered the cost of manufactured goods--past tense--the cost to the consumer. On p. 255 we read that "most Americans wanted more dead Indians." In a country obsessed with Protestantism? Was there a survey? There's no reference to a source.
More troublesome than one-sided one-liners are two longer passages. On p. 151, Taylor contrasts slavery as conducted in the United States with slavery in Spanish Florida. In Florida, Zephaniah Kingsley used the task system to manage his slave's work in contrast to "the despised gang system of American plantations". This dichotomy is false. Plenty of masters in the United States used the task system. Why imply that is not the case? The choice between the two systems came down to the crop being raised. We learn that Kingsley used a black "manager". So what? Plenty of masters in the American South used enslaved drivers. Kingsley refused to break up slave families, a fact also true of many owners in the United States.
The other passage is the following. "In March, the [Mexican] troops captured and butchered small Texan garrisons at Goliad and the Alamo . . . [Later] Sam Houston routed the Mexicans, killing 630 (many of them after surrendering)." Small garrisons? According to Howe's What Hath God Wrought, 342 Texans were executed at Goliad after they surrendered. Why emphasize Houston's soldiers' atrocities and pass off Goliad as the butchering a small garrison?
With a short book, one can always think of something that should have been added, thus defeating the merit of a short book. The only missing piece in American Republics is Enlightenment philosophy. Yes, the Enlightenment ended soon after this book begins, but the Enlightenment gives a perspective on Western expansion that is not in this book. Of great value to Enlightenment philosophers was independence, meaning individuals should not be dependent on others. They should not be dependent financially. They should not owe favors. Only free of dependency is someone truly free. One path to freedom is to be a yeoman farmer, thus the connection between property and liberty. For hundreds of years, the American dream was to be a yeoman, beginning with colonization, i.e., there was an American dream before there was a United States of America. Our country was founded and expanded by persons who simply wanted to own their own farms. Yeomanry brought prosperity, not wealth, but comfort. It brought respect in the community. It brought the ability to vote for whomever one wished, with no one you depend on to coerce your vote (which was public). In American Republics, Taylor characterizes western settlers as rapacious thieves of Indian lands--and many of them were--but others just wanted prosperity for their families, and the land that was available was to the west. Again we get the bad side but not the good side.
I bought this book expecting a case-by-case list of the sectional issues that could have split our young republic apart into assorted combinations of former states. What I got is a broad history of the young USA. Taylor did a good job of condensing that history into relatively few pages. There is a lot of bad in our history. No doubt. It is unfortunate that Taylor often gives us the bad and excludes the good.
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Top reviews from other countries
Bill Humber
Top notch writing and research
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 12, 2021S KB
Somewhat disappointing in all honesty!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 30, 2021
