The American Revelation: Ten Ideals That Shaped Our Country from the Puritans to the Cold War

by Neil Baldwin

In The American Revelation , Neil Baldwin, one of our most exciting and provocative intellectual historians, applies his formidable energies to the story of how the American Spirit developed over four centuries, through an inspiring―and unsparing―examination of selected ideals that have helped inform our culture through the vivid personalities who set the course.

Figures both familiar and forgotten illuminate this timely narrative of popular history that enlivens the current debate about America's proper role in a turbulent post-9/11 world. Though an ideal may have been forgotten, that does not mean it no longer has the power to move us and shape our future.

Exuberant and lively, The American Revelation will inspire all readers, regardless of their politics, to revisit and revalue our country's high-minded heritage.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2005

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books' premise is that American idealist shape American ideals. He starts Reagan famous proclamation of America as the shinning city on the hill borrowed from Winthrop First Gov of Massachusetts idea of Boston as the city on the Hill. Reagan and Winthrop both wanted America to be moral exemplars to other nations.

John Winthrop and "the City on the Hill" - The central question that preoccupied Winthrop and his fellow Puritans is what does a righteous man owe society? John grew up rich in a picturesque farm. He developed a spiritual bookish nature and was enveloped by Calvinism and its fiery teaching which influence Winthrop in placing God at the center of life. John sought to catalogue his sins in an effort to make himself a better man under the Lord. After losing his position as attorney general when King Charles sought to centralize power to himself by fiat and away from Parliament, he saw prosecution coming in both his profession and religious beliefs. So he wrought opinion pieces as a stockholder in the Mass Bay Corp, in order to make money in the new world with the heart of it being filled Puritans. In Winthrop, we see the intertwining American cord that made religious liberty and commerce go hand in hand. Aside from wanting religious liberty protected, he lamented the overcrowding of London and bad sanitary conditions it possessed.

From its early foundings, it seems the US became a destination for political/religious asylum seekers. One of Winthrop's pastor John Cotton ran afoul with Anglican hierarchy for being critical of them. Cotton gave moral authority to the Mass Bay colony. Unlike the Pilgrims who sought to separate themselves from the Church of England, Winthrop merely wanted to reform the church and to "purify" it using the fundamentalist literal interpretation of the bible as the only guide and to get rid of Catholic Church influence via sacraments and priest in order for the individual seek a more perfect union with the Divine. This showcases American individualistic streak in having the bible as the only thing that one needs in order to follow the word of God. The fruits of puritanism is free will that transforms its practitioners into hard workers into morally productive members of society. Being part of the landed gentry, Winthrop believed in hierarchy as a model for the new world in which everyone has an important role to play and equated complete equality in a democracy with anarchy. For him, politics must follow religion. He was humbled by how he had to answer to God for his actions as governor.

Winthrop cites Matthews Sermon on the mount as a the ideal of how a community should function and Mass Bay Colony will be the city on the Hill in which other cities will emulate because it would shine as beacon. He compared the puritan settlers to the Israelites crossing the river Jordan to Canaan as their promised land. The Puritan would set a new covenant with God.

The puritan imperative to learn by themselves via biblical means lays the groundwork for liberty of the free press in order for them practice their religious beliefs without external interference. An interesting factoid is that Salem means peaceful in Hebrew.

1st generation settlers faced danger especially 1 quarter of the settlers died and childbirth was a dangerous undertaking for most of human civilization.

Baldwin concludes the Winthrop section that living in such a privilege society should make us want to do our part give back to it to help others succeed in their efforts for a successful life. He states that societal success is not a guarantee unless we, its citizens, make it so.

THOMAS PAINE -He was a Brit tax collector who decided to move to America when he worked for Franklin and started to do editorials with inflammatory charges of British tyranny against . His writings of Common Sense gave a coherent voice to the injustices that fueled the American Revolutionaries were feeling. He feels like Tea Party partisan who through his advocacy fuels his own ideology. Whereas Paine advocated that society with less government the better it is going to be while Adams thought that there has to be governmental infrastructure with a series checks and balances so while government is present one power balances the others.

Who knew that Common Sense was really a Scottish enlightenment movement that advocated action instead of inaction and that intuition of man should be trusted. Paine makes a strong case of an individuals free will and raises patriotism to American moral imperative to free American independence so it becomes a beacon to mankind imperative to follow the American example. To Paine, Americans were destine to be a republic not subjects of the British crown. He believes that when the government no longer serves the people, its citizens have to have a moral imperative to change it.

By writing Common Sense, Paine crystalized the reason the American Revolution was necessary to a divided colonial government as well a giving the revolution a coherent reasoning for its moral necessity to occur. It served to quiet any internal dissent and allowed the Continental Congress to raise an army. As a child of the enlightenment, Paine believed in a Deist God that created us with free will to decide our own destiny and we need to use this free-will in creating our own lives and good government.

PIERRE DU SIIMITIERE - is a Swiss immigrant who wondered all over the place. He was a loner intellectual who loved ideas and was attracted to Philadelphia as Paine was because of its vibrant intellectualism. Through his search for an American seal, Pierre borrowed a lot from Jewish reference of being the chosen people of God like the Israelites were. I wonder if our history of being the promise land for immigrants reinforces our bond with the state of Israel the original promised land from God.

The motto of E Pluribus Unum was initially rejected by the confederation of states because of the dynamic debate whether the colonial states should remain a loose confederacy of sovereign states or should the states be united under one banner which continues to be debated today on the rights of states versus the rights of the Federal government to supersede the rights of the states. Whereas Madison favored local government, Franklin favored a unified central government. The slow evolution of the federal adoption of E Plubirius Unum came from dynamic tension between state autonomy vs United States. When the US became more and more the country of immigrants, E Plubrius Unum became the motto for the great American melting pot.

EMERSON - is a descendent of a long-line of ministers whose family placed the value on education near the top and wanted an intellectual life in which he wanted to experience all life had to offer. Like Doctorow's Pem, Emerson did not believe in the literal biblical miracles but instead preferred metaphorical illustration to create spiritual lessons. From his transcendentalist club, he wrought a commence speech for the Harvard Divinity School titled Self-Reliance which a direct relationship with God that made organized religion superfluous. In essence despite believing in a more metaphorical interpretation of God, Emerson provided the intellectual force behind the evangelical movement away from organized religion which he thought imprisoned men's natural relationship between men and God. He advocated self-reliance on once thought and action in being isolated, introspective, and unconventionalism. He thought one has to be better ones self through self thought and only through each individual creating their perfect world can it eventually influence to create a better world. It is Emerson thought in creating the world from inside out that gave rise to Horatio Algers American idea of a self made man.

JOHN O'SULLIVAN - American exceptionalism comes from the break with European monarchy and the corruption that comes from centralized power be it from a monarch, dictator, oligarchy rule. American also do not have the burden of having to follow cultural traditions so we could constantly innovate in the present and the future instead of the past. For O'Sullivan, Americans carried the mantle of the Israelites as the chosen people of God whose mission was to stand against tyranny and to promote American-style democracy abroad. American elites still thought of the US as "the American experiment" which is equated "the Democratic Principle."

The Irish John O'Sullivan advocated the idea of manifest destiny (fait a compli) that we are a nation of progress, individual freedom, and universal enfranchisement. Like his theory of American manifest destiny, John had a gregarious expansive personality. He was drawn to literary magazines in order to bring new ideas to the public. O'Sullivan used the press to influence national politics. Influx of immigrants brings revitalized energy to America and its economy. O'Sullivan was influenced by Emerson "self-reliance" speech and transformed Emerson insistence in changing a person from within into optimistic action externally. When Polk sought to expand the US territories, O'Sullivan forgot his pacifist ways and endorsed the expansion as part of American millennial mentality that it was the duty of American to expand to teach "the natives" how to live in civilization thus giving birth to the "white man's burden" from the expansiveness of manifest destiny now comes the patronizing inflexibility of the white man's burden. This idea of white man's burden is the harbinger for neoconservative doctrine of preemptive strike in order to secure democracy for the whole world. I wonder if Israeli settlers in the West Bank borrowed ideas from American's manifest destiny? i wonder if this is the reason why we are friendly toward the Israeli's despite the clear violation of international law in having Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

The idea of manifest destiny influenced US in the early 20th century to annex Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii Islands, and even thinking of doing it to Canada.

HENRY GEORGE - As a working class man, George looked at progress as a double edge sword where some people prospered while others did not. He predicted that the rich will get richer while the poorer. George thought it was morally wrong that while corporate monolopies have massive profits, the working wage is getting poorer to where it no longer can be called a living wage. Unfortunately, George chose to target Chinese immigrants as the reason wages for the working class was depressed. He also thought that income of labor should not be taxed. He saw in city life the story of two classes and depending if one had money one could see city life differently.

George focused on the underbelly of unregulated capitalism in order to see if it is fixable. The debate continues today between Democratic Party which through federal government transfer payments seek to lessen the impact of the negative side of capitalism and the Republican party which seeks to deregulate and not tax corporation in order to grow the economic pie though ignoring the inequities that that produces. A good question is if George wrote about economic inequities of capitalistic expansion policy in the 19 century, can it be that that is the norm in the capitalistic system while the mid-20 century American boon on both capital and good wages for its wages is merely an aberration brought about being the only developed country left standing after WWII?

Unlike Marx, George believed in capitalism as a force for good but he thought it was Labor who made capitalism great. His main contribution to America via "Progress and the Poor" places Labor in the center of the capitalist movement which influence the progressive movement in forming labor laws such as child labor law and a 40 hrs working week.

JANE ADDAMS - worked as a pragmatic social worker helping the immigrant poor. While William James believed that religion should help the material well-being of the poor, Jane created a shelter with multiple activities where the rich could interact with the poor a harbinger to YMCA or YWCA. She thought her creation of the Hull House in Chicago was the appropriate forum for women to help in the world and to further the cause of women's rights outside the house. Because her father believed in educating women, Jane believed that woman should have independent thought and action although she believed in women having complementary action to men instead of direct competition. She believed in religion in direct action as doing one's duty. She graduated valedictorian and pushed a role for women in helping the disenfranchised.

Addam's father was a prominent rich Quaker who believed in spiritual impetus was more powerful than Scripture. He believed in a person's mental integrity and instilled Christian values of "duty, responsibility, and helpfulness to others." After the death of her father, Jane superficially socialized and was only saved by reading enriching books. The books gave her purpose in fulfilling social justice via Tolstoy quoting the social gospel. Addams admired Tolstoy for addressing widespread problems of poverty abandoning his writing in favor of philanthropic action. Because her father left her a big inheritance, she wanted to start her active education of experience to help the immigrant poor.

Addam's Hull House attracted philanthropic-minded women like herself and became a magnet for philanthropy through her efforts. She used Christian charism in order to explain her movement in bringing material and cultural understanding to the immigrant poor. She wanted to make known the plight of the poor in order to force the municipal government to enact humanitarian reform. The humanitarian reform movement was mainly led by women. Who knew that the first Dept of Sociology was born in U. of Chicago and was inspired by Jane Addam's Hull House?

William James and Jane Addams were pioneers of using pragmaticism as a way to test theory in its practice. Addams preferred gradual reform to Marx instantaneous revolution. Her book Democracy and Social Ethics made clear that the working class had its own culture, advocated the role of women outside the home into the public sphere that used to be solely inhabited by men. Addams wanted government to step in to correct the inequities of a capitalistic economy. For her efforts in helping to create the NAACP, women sufferage efforts, and ACLU, she became the first women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

MELTING POT - Who knew that "The Melting Pot" created by Israel was actually a play that celebrated American assimilation. Israel ties American greatness with it being an immigration melting pot. He belonged to a pious and poor East End Jewish immigrant family. Israel was introduced to Herzl who was the force behind the Zionist movement. Whereas Herzl advocated for the Zionist movement based in Palestine, Israel thought the US which was the country for immigrants was the perfect place for Jews to assimilate. With the 19th century progroms that culminated in the Holocaust, a renewed energy was given to the Zionist movement. I agree with Israel that America is the best place for Jews to assimilate.

Israel's play "The Melting Pot" asks whether a marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew whose father was responsible for the massacre of David's family was possible in America with a resounding yes. Since America erases the past and is the place where the present and the future can be executed unencumbered by traditions. Israel states that only in the US can people keep their cultural heritage while being united by the ideas of secular America freedom and assimilate into the great melting pot. He is correct in stating that American settlers borrowed a lot from the Judaic teachings of the promised land from the Chosen People of God. While it was declared a hit by the mainstream press, religious Jews sought a more multi-cultural approach in keeping separate their cultural heritage from the dominant culture. The debate whether it is better to assimilate or to stand for multi-cultural approach to immigration continues today but no one doubts that the US does the best job in incorporating immigrants into a greater whole. I prefer an immigrant who does both well keeping their cultural heritage while at the same time assimilating to a greater whole. Myrdal is correct in stating that the driving force behind America is its belief that things could always be better.

WOODSON - As a coal miner, Woodson was exposed to a Negro reading group. Woodson was an advocate of multi-cultural historical lesson instead of the standard American history. He was for people learning what is relevant to ones culture. He wanted to teach the Negro social milieu that influenced their development as an American race. In 1908, he enrolled at Harvard's PhD program. His mentor, Channing, dismissed Negro history as non-existent until Woodson himself unearthed the Negro race contributions to America. Later as Woodson got grants, he was able to concentrate on his life work cataloging and publishing Negro intellectual work. His main book "The Miseducation of the Negro" focused on Negros being with their own race, have pride in their shared history, and to seize control of the thrust of their own thinking. In his book, "The Negro in Our History", he showed how the Negro was equal to white people in creating the US from his past up the Civil Rights movement.

He advocated the Negro wake up call to action in order to do things for himself. He could do the impossible if he put his mind to it. The Negro must contribute to working life if he is to be valued. His biggest contribution to the US is instituting the Negro History Week which Jimmy Carter expanded to the Negro History Month. It was not accidental that the Negro History Week was created in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance. He hoped that Negro History Week would disappear and be subsumed by just American History.

He was wary of any institution help be it universities or government because he wanted control over what his Journals published. In the end, Woodson was a populist intellectual who sought to clarify the narrative of Black people in America. At his best, he sought to encourage black teenagers to think for themselves. How does one encourage empowerment of a people who have been disenfranchised for centuries by the dominant white culture?

GEORGE MARSHALL - used his popularity as the military chief of staff of the army during WWII in order to win the peace in Europe via economic development. He wanted America to keep engaged in the post-WWII. Like Powell, Marshall wanted to serve his country in a non-partisan way thus avoiding talk of him being President. It was in a speech in Harvard, where he laid out the Marshall Plan with America in the leadership position in an increasingly interdependent world. With Senator Vandenberg, Marshall heavily lobbied for American investment in Europe which paid off greatly seeing that Europe is the #1 importer of US goods. The Marshall Plan also allowed for NATO, the EU, and served as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. Perhaps it also served to install globalization as a foreign policy strategy in order to maintain global stability. For his efforts, he received the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books about national character, values, spirit, and identity are always tricky, so Neal Baldwin avoids over-simplifying this study of American ideals by admitting at the outset that it is a representative study, not a comprehensive study.

His representatives, many born overseas, capture well the diversity and eclecticism of the American experience.

John Winthrop, Tom Paine, Pierre Eugene Du Simitiere (he put E Pluribus Unum on the national seal), and Israel Zangwill (author of The Melting Pot, a play Teddy Roosevelt loved) were born in Europe and brought European conceptions of "what could be better" to the New World.

Ralph Waldo Emerson remains, in many ways, the quintessential American thinker, but Baldwin makes clear Emerson's debt to European romanticism, literary and philosophical.

Figures like Jane Addams, Carter G. Woodson (who is ultimately responsible for Black History Month) and George Marshall seem hewn more directly from American timber, and yet even they were shaped and inspired by European precedents: Addams saw social action at its best in England before bringing it to Chicago; no historian (Woodson included) conducts his research without having learned lessons from the 19th century German historians, and Marshall's greatest triumph came from helping to rebuild Europe after WWII when he saw that America's future would be bleak without a prosperous transatlantic partner in democracy.

The American Revelation benefits from Baldwin's strategy of composing a biographical mosaic. Many seminal Americans are left out, but that's inevitable. The best chapters focus on Addams and Woodson. Perhaps the greatest figure studied is Marshall. All three are notable for incorporating their ideals into their actions. That probably is the hallmark American trait...and remains a work in progress.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baldwin's approach to explaining American history and ideals is unconventional but useful and interesting. He writes about the lives and writings of ten persons who were leaders in defining American thought. None were elected officials; only a few are mentioned in school textbooks; but each explained and promoted some ideal critical to the development of America. John Winthrop, Thomas Paine, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Israel Zangwill, George Marshall, and others. Although the book is organized chronologically, any chapter can be read on its own to great benefit.

[Ivy]

I have not started this yet. I am hoping it is not going to be like William Bennet or something.

edited to add: I didn't even start this. It just felt boring.