Taylor, Alan. American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850. W.W. Norton & Company, 2021.
American Republics is the third entry in Alan Taylor's ongoing
history of the United States (following American Colonies and American
Revolutions). He uses the plural form of Republic because he argues that
the United States was hardly a united front, with various ideas for what the
nation should be. The most obvious divide was between free-soiler Northerners
and pro-slavery Southerners. However many reformers, religious outliers,
Abolitionists, and others further added to a dazzling array of variants on the
American ideal. Many Americans, and Indian Peoples as well, even struck out to
create their own independent republics (Mormons, Texans, and Cherokees are
among the notable examples), though all eventually fell into the United States
anyways. Taylor also shows how shaky the American Republic was in its early
years. It struggled economically and was battered by established empires,
foremost Britain's. Internal strife frequently led it to the brink of disunion
as different geographic and political sections pursued differing agendas. The
book ends with the Compromise of 1850, which did ward off Civil War, but also
heightened tensions to the point that it caused one anyways ten years later.
Taylor also gets into the history of America's neighbors, such as Canada and Spanish Florida. These are among the strongest parts of the book, contextualizing America within a wider continental history (as the title promises), and providing some inroads into other countries' histories for more curious readers Another strength is the collection of various unique characters, many little known even to history buffs. In addition to well-known monumental figures ranging from Henry Clay to Frederick Douglass to Andrew Jackson, Taylor treats us to would-be republic founder William Bowles (77-80) to humanitarian slaveholder Zephaniah Kingsley, Jr. (150-155) to William and Ellen Craft, a slave couple who posed as male master and valet to escape to the North (374-375). This makes for an expansive and colorful collection of characters and stories within 400 highly readable pages. American Republics serves as a wonderful starting point to find topics to investigate.
