American History: A Survey

“It is not surprising that there have been historians throughout almost all of recorded time.”

This phrase, which is part of the text’s opening paragraph, sums up Brinkley’s goal to help history students think in a complex, interdisciplinary way. Humanity has always known that the actions of its predecessors can inform contemporary thought, and recording and studying the past has always been important to human civilizations.

“Europeans were almost entirely unaware of the existence of the Americas before the fifteenth century.”

Early European explorers such as Leif Erickson likely reached the American continent well before the 15th century. However, the voyage of Christopher Columbus and the influence of his particular exploratory ambitions inspired colonial fervor in a way that made the New World a household topic.

“As Jamestown struggled to survive, the London Company (now renamed the Virginia Company) was already dreaming of bigger things.”

American colonialism succeeded in light of serious economic issues within the British Empire. The early colonies survived through a combination of the relative desperation of the colonists themselves and the economic investment of both the British government and wealthy British citizens, who saw vast economic opportunities in the new colonies.

“Although there were sharp social distinctions in the colonies, the deeply entrenched class system of England failed to reproduce itself in America.”

English people from across the class system established themselves in the US, leaving their homeland mostly because of various forms of disadvantage within the class system itself. Even the wealthiest and most aristocracy-adjacent founding Americans, who often lived the same privileged lifestyles of the British upper class, saw the burgeoning new nation as a place where success was not fully dependent on patriarchal birthright.

“Historians have long debated whether the American Revolution was a social as well as a political revolution.”

The American Revolution was primarily a fight among the wealthy and powerful, who hoped to build their own society away from the direct control of the British. Any debate over who should rule the colonies, if not the British, was largely lost to history.

“The Constitution of 1789 was a document that established a democratic republic for white people, mostly white men.”

Despite the Declaration of Independence words “freedom and justice for all,” both the language and spirit of the Constitution considered white men above all other genders and races. Black and Indigenous people were actively discounted, and white women were given symbolic rights but no real influence.

“In many respects, American cultural life in the early nineteenth century seemed to reflect the Republican vision of the nation’s future.”

The first Republicans, mostly led by Thomas Jefferson, had a vision of an agrarian but cosmopolitan society with an educated population in which every white man had an opportunity for influence. The expansion of schooling and the development of a specific white American culture gave the appearance of these goals being achieved, at least among the wealthy and white.

“The westward movement of the white American population was one of the most important developments of the nineteenth century.”

White people’s movement into the American West happened in waves throughout the 19th century. Westward expansion brought new economic opportunities for the settlers, but perhaps the most influential consequence was the near obliteration of Indigenous and Spanish competition that resulted from white American conquest of the western landscape.

“The newly industrializing society of the northern regions of the United States produced profound changes in the nature and function of the family.”

For over a century of white American settlement, most people lived in rural farm communities. Within these communities, the patriarchal system flourished, as each family member had a clearly defined role and land existed to be passed down from father to son. With migration to cities in the 19th century, children found themselves with no set future, and many began finding jobs outside the home.

“Resistance was only part of the slave response to slavery. Another was an elaborate process of adaptation.”

By the mid-19th century, most enslaved people in the US had no direct relationship to Africa. Throughout the generations of people born to slavery, a unique culture developed that helped the enslaved cope with their situation.

“Manifest Destiny represented more than pride in the nation’s political system.”

Manifest Destiny was a philosophy as much as a political goal. Based on a theory of white European cultural superiority, it held that conquering and transforming non-European lands was not only a wise political choice but a duty as the most advanced world culture.

“Many Southerners boasted loudly of the differences between their new nation and the nation they had left.”

The constitution of the Confederate States of America was very similar to that of the US. Even state’s rights movement, a concept that many Southerners held dear, was not greatly expanded by the new country. The only major difference was the Confederacy’s mandate that slavery be allowed to continue indefinitely.

“The Civil War was a catastrophe for the South with no parallel in America’s experience as a nation.”

The Civil War destroyed both much of the South’s infrastructure and its primary economic system. The region was left in absolute devastation, and attempts at Reconstruction largely ended in disagreement and disorganization. In many ways, the South has not fully recovered from the effects of the Civil War to this day.

“Having imagined the West as ‘virgin land’ awaiting civilization by white people, many Americans tried to force the region to match their image of it.”

By the time white Americans began to move west in large numbers, anti-Indigenous American sentiment was at its peak. The Indigenous westerners were not viewed as established cultures but as primitive roadblocks to American cultural development and settlers’ personal goals.

“In the battle for power within the emerging industrial economy, almost all the advantages seemed to lie with capital.”

The growth of industrial power in the US saw corresponding growth in income inequality. Workers established labor unions and other forms of organization in many industries, but from the beginning, the influence of wealthy industrial leaders swayed the government toward business interests in almost every regard.

“America, a society with little experience of great cities, found urbanization both jarring and alluring.”

The growth of cities brought many Americans into close contact for the first time with people from across the population spectrum. This led to cities being sites of increased conflict and social unrest but also brought new forms of entertainment and cultural exchange that could not be found in homogenous rural areas.

“The aftermath of war brought not the age of liberal reform that progressives had predicted, but a period of repression and reaction.”

Before World War I, the progressive movement made strides in bringing forward-thinking changes to American government and society. In social terms, especially among young people, the postwar years saw an increase in liberalism, but the strength of the conservative backlash among the influential classes surprised many idealistic progressives.

“No one could deny the remarkable, some believed miraculous, feats of the American economy in the 1920s.”

After a brief postwar recession, the American economy leapt to unseen heights. As in most economic booms, the benefits primarily affected the people who already had large amounts of money, but marginalized groups managed to enjoy some benefit too, allowing things like the Harlem Renaissance to develop.

“Economists, historians, and others have argued for decades about the causes of the Great Depression without reaching any consensus.”

When viewed through the lens of all of American history, it seems almost inevitable that the boom of the 1920s would be followed by a dramatic economic collapse. Uncontrolled economic freedom in the US was not the only problem, though. A complex series of political and social events led to a worldwide depression in the 1930s.

“Perhaps the most dramatic effect of the New Deal was on the structure and behavior of American government and on the character of American politics.”

The New Deal greatly expanded the national government’s scope through sweeping social welfare reforms and publicly funded infrastructure. The backlash against the plan, mostly from Republicans, showed a partisan unity among conservatives that greatly influenced future politics.

“‘This nation will remain a neutral nation,’ the president declared shortly after hostilities began in Europe, ‘but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well.’”

Even after World War II was well underway in Europe, the US officially maintained a position of neutrality, in the opinion that only a direct threat to the US would justify entering the war. President Roosevelt recognized that many in the American public saw the need to intervene, and used his eloquent public speaking abilities to attempt to justify the lack of US action.

“Controversy has raged for decades over whether Truman’s decision to use the bomb was justified and what his motives were.”

The atomic bombing of two Japanese cities marked an abrupt and brutal end to World War II. Many considered the action unjustified, as the war seemed to be in its last stages anyway. Some saw Truman’s actions not as a tactic to end the fighting but as a show of force against the Soviet Union, which at the time was officially a US ally.

“After decades of skirmishes, an open battle began in the 1950s against racial segregation and discrimination.”

Despite being declared full citizens after the end of the Civil War, Black Americans struggled for almost a century for even the most basic forms of equality. In the 1950s, a combination of factors, including newfound prosperity (mostly among white people), caused a surge in anti-segregation uprisings throughout the South, which became a larger movement across the US.

“The turbulent events of 1968 persuaded many observers that American society was in the throes of revolutionary change. In fact, however, the response of most Americans to the turmoil was a conservative one.”

Civil rights protests, anti-Vietnam protests, and the growing feminist movement generated a widespread belief that revolution was imminent among both people who welcomed changes and those who were fearful of them. The 1968 election saw the particularly conservative Richard Nixon and the segregationist George McGovern emerge as frontrunners as candidates for the presidency. Despite a third-party challenge by the Independent George Wallace, Nixon won the presidency in both 1968 and 1972.