What Has God Wrought: The Transformation of America
A panoramic narrative, What Hath God Wrought, written by historian Daniel Walker Howe portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. In his story, Howe weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. Howe examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. In addition, Howe reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life
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during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States. The transformation of America is often debated in both common media and academic discussions.
Each generation has a title, new technologies define new times, and occurrences seem only notable when they are “historic”. While major events catch the attention of a comprehensive range of the public realization, subtle interactions between actors and slight shifts in beliefs are continually changing the actualities of the world. This one event was indelibly branded on the realization of the world and is often seen as a moment of instant transformation.
This period is the era of the when the revolutionization with transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. It was during the time of1815 through 1845 when the big transformation occurred for the railroads, canals, newspapers, and the
Duckworth,
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Bryan telegraph. It was the captivation of the telegraph’s progresses which dramatically lessened the travel times and prompted the spread of information. While standing in the chambers of the Supreme Courts in 1884 in Washington D.C., Samuel B.
Morse sent a 19-letter message to his assistant Albert Vail in Baltimore who actually transmitted the message back to him a moment later. It was at this time Congress members was watching this exhibition with much fascination. The message was ‘What Hath God Wrought’? This question is taken from the bible (Numbers 23:23) which reads’ Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!’ and had been the offer of the daughter of the patent commissioner, named Annie Eilworth. He had spent 12 years working on and perfecting this invention. On May 24, 1884, he launched the world’s first marketable telegraph line with a message. It was said that this message was very applicable given the invention’s potential, opportunity, and impact that it would have on America’s life. In light of the verbiage spoken by Annie Ellsworth, they may take on more importance than she probably projected of what had God wrought indeed for America. When we think of the phase of What Hath God Wrought today, we would lean not to refer to great discoveries but yet an awful tragedy. Maybe this would be just an unusual reflection of God or Technology from a different era or maybe even both. Usually when we think of the mighty acts of God, we tends to think of a disaster, but Morse was thinking
of his invention. Ten years after the first lined opened, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph wire networked throughout America. This invention took off like rapid fire. It was a great benefit to the Duckworth, Bryan American development, which made railroad travel much safer as it provided improvement to business conducted across the great distances of the growing United States. This innovation incited the arrival of majority political parties’ and moved American’s marketable development from an overpoweringly rural country to spread economy in which commerce and businesses took their place along with farming. The invention of the telegraph also manifested the beginning of a new era of communications, in such the form that it could travel quicker than any human by any means of transportation. Duckworth, Bryan References Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought! The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007. Standage, Tom. The Victorian Internet. The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers, Walker & Co., New York, 1998. Thompson, Robert Luther. Wiring a Continent: The History of the Telegraphy Industry in the United States 1832–1866. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1947. Holy Bible, Numbers 23:23
Susan Harris’s book God’s Arbiters explores the religious rhetoric when discussing expansion of the United States. She focuses solely on the time period of 1898 through 1902. In this book, Harris calls on the works of numerous poets, authors, and political figures to show the perception of the United States imperialist motives from outside the borders. Harris uses Mark Twain as an epigraph at the beginning of the book with the quotation “I am an anti-imperialist.” Drawing upon authors such as Rudyard Kipling and his pro-annexation story The White Man’s Burden, Harris shows both sides of the debate through authors and poets alike. This use of writers offers an interesting perspective to the argument for and against imperialism, furthermore offering a look into the minds of intellectuals of the period. The main issue addressed by Harris is
Written sometime after A People’s History of the United States, the play on words might indicate the authors’ intent to refute the biased nature of the older book, and redeem the major players. Chapter one begins covering the year 1492-1707 with the age of European discovery. Schweikart and Allen focus of the catchy phrase “God, glory, and gold” as the central motives for exploration, emphasizing the desire to bring the Gospel to the New World. They paint native settlers as “thieves” and “bloodthirsty killers who pillage for pleasure” (Allen 1). The narrative continues, discussing the explorers from Portugal and Spain and their contact with the Arabs and Africans. The authors quote Columbus as saying “[he] hoped to convert them ‘to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force’” (4) a contrary portrayal to that in A People’s History of the United States. The authors continue on to discuss the French and English and the foundations for success in the New World; how people lived in the Colonial South. They write about the physical labor, the natural resources, and the food. Schweikart and Allen enlighten the readers about early slavery, the start of the House of Burgesses, the founding of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Pequot Indian War, the English Civil War, Bacon’s Rebellion, Pennsylvania’s settlement, and the
In Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, Douglass Rushkoff discusses his interpretation of the relationship of society and rapidly evolving technology. He believes that as technology progresses, society becomes increasingly dependent on it and eventually loses touch with the traditional sense of time and reality. Through the book Rushkoff makes several insightful observations about the development of society and how technologies were often the driving force behind these “Present Shocks.”
America was born and survived, its rough road into a nation, through a series of events, or moments in history. The founding brother’s book is about a few important figures during and after the American Revolution. These important figures consisted of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. Each of these men, contributed to the building of America in one way or another. The book breaks these contributions into a few short stories, to help understand what these important figures did.
Tindall, George, and David Shi. America: A Narrative History. Ed. 9, Vol. 1. New York: WW. Norton & Company, 2013. 185,193. Print.
The nineteenth century America was a period of history following a number of long lasting wars and also a whole new start to new changes in society. With the collapse of multiple nations that were in contact towards the United States, it paved the way for the growing influence and development for the United States, spurring military imperialism and conflicts, and advances in scientific exploration and technologies. Because of the ideas and resources that were began to spread, develop and flourish in areas of the western hemisphere, the nineteenth century also saw opportunities in construction, communication, and in particular the transportation systems. But as different aspects of society began to improve and that more and more freedom were in the hands of the citizens and government, the competitive market not only expanded in profit and wealth, but simultaneously faced minor conflicts due to the abuse of their rights and property. Because of the rise of new technological advancements and resources, railroads in the 19th century American society quickly boomed cities and came across as the most dominant source of transportation, as it predominantly played a role in the expansion of industry across the United States. Also, it was a movement most efficient in creating their own monopoly and was quickly adopted by many other countries that sought influence.
New brands of distinctly American Christianity began developing early in the country’s history. Before the revolution, George Whitefield set the stage for American religious movements. The most important factor that helped launch these movements was the American Revolution. The country was ripe with conversation and action on a new understanding of freedom. The revolution “expanded the circle of people who considered themselves capable of thinking for themselves about issues of … equality, sovereignty, and representation” (6). The country was beginning to move toward an understanding of strength lying in the common people, and the people’s ability to make their own personal decisions on issues of leadership and authority. There was a common belief that class structure was the major societal problem. The revolution created the an open environment that pushed equality of the individual, allowing political and religious beliefs to flourish and grow without being held in check by authoritarian leaders.
Tindall, George B., and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2007.
Gaustad, Edwin S. The Religious History of America: The Heart of the American Story from Colonial Times to Today. N.p.: HarperOne, 2004. Print.
industrialization. It is hard to factor all of those periods into once period such as the 1800’s as a whole.
The world was hectic in the 20th century. The first plane was flown, World War I took place (1914-1918), communists took over Russia and China (1917), penicillin was discovered (1928), the U.S. stock market crashed (1929), and the DNA’s structure was discovered (. However, on the eastern side of the world, the most notable occurrences were probably Hitler’s rise as chancellor and his launching of the Kristallnacht, the German invasion of Poland, Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the Holocaust. Further east, specifically Japan, its 124th Emperor had just inherited his father’s place, right before entering World War II.
The Antebellum Period in American history is the time period that directly follows the end of the War of 1812 in 1814 up until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. This time period got it’s name from the Latin word “Antebellum,” which means, “before the war.” The Civil War is such an iconic turning point in American History. The Antebellum Period played a large role leading towards the division of North and South and contributed to making the Civil War almost
Tindall, George Brown., and David E. Shi. America a Narrative History. 8th ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.
As the sun moves westward on January 1, 2000 and the date shifts silently within millions of computerized systems, we will begin to experience our computer dependent world in a new way. At the stroke of midnight, the new millennium heralds the greatest challenge to modern society that we have yet to face as a planetary community. Whether we experience this as chaos or social transformation will be influenced by what we do immediately.
“Throughout human history, different periods have been captured by a defining theme: the Dark Ages… the Industrial Age… the Nuclear Age… the Information Age… the Space Age, etc. One may feel it is too early to determine the theme of what is still a new century [but there are many] possibilities: The age of connections? Rebirth of faith? Age of the internet? Gender equality? Human trafficking? WW III? Artificial intelligence? Genetics? Spiritual revolution? Secularism? Values? Ethics? …” There are still eighty five years to find out new events that can completely change the themes of the 21st century. So