Providence and the Invention of the United States, 1607–1876

by Nicholas Guyatt

Nicholas Guyatt offers a completely new understanding of a central question in American how did Americans come to think that God favored the United States above other nations? Making sense of previously diffuse debates on manifest destiny, millenarianism, and American mission, Providence and the Invention of the United States explains the origins and development of the idea that God has a special plan for America. The benefits and costs of this idea deserve careful consideration.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, nuanced, sometimes dry, and charming, Guyatt is convincing in demonstrating the breadth, depth, variety, and short-sightedness of arguments for (providential) Am. exceptionalism made by an exhaustive list of Americans between 1607-1877. He unsettles providential Am. exceptionalism just by showing how many divergent, competing, and often directly contradictory versions of providential national identity permeated Am. civil discourse since the earliest days of the colonies. He repeatedly demonstrates that no matter the occasion or intent of providentialist narratives, claims of divinely favored status hinder a clear view of the history of the people making the claim. Often, this means providential claimants dont see or reconcile the sins of their past. This includes Americans’ mngmt of race in the colonies, early republic, and Civil War/Reconstruction era. E.g., abolitionism became a mainstream Northern position on a crest of providentialism in the early days of the Civil War. Ending slavery was the prerequisite to repairing the United States’ providential status and ensuring that the US would shine freedom out to the world. These narratives almost never mentioned how the US might treat (or expel via colonization…) freed/emancipated black folks, which allowed the majority of the American public to rest on its laurels after ending slavery and retrieving the full union. This kind of providential escapism allowed racial injustices to metastasize in postbellum structures.