America 1844
eBook - ePub

America 1844

Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

America 1844

Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation

About this book

The presidential election of 1844 was one of the two or three most momentous elections in American history. Had Henry Clay won instead of James K. Polk, we'd be living in a very different country today. Polk's victory cemented the westward expansion that brought Texas, California, and Oregon into the union. It also took place amid religious turmoil that included anti-Mormon and anti-Catholic violence, and the "Great Disappointment, " in which thousands of followers of an obscure preacher named William Miller believed Christ would return to earth in October 1844.

Author and journalist John Bicknell details even more compelling, interwoven events that occurred during this momentous year: the murder of Joseph Smith, the religious fermentation of the Second Great Awakening, John C. FrĂ©mont's exploration of the West, Charles Goodyear's patenting of vulcanized rubber, the near-death of President John Tyler in a freak naval explosion, and much more. All of these elements illustrate the competing visions of the American future—Democrats versus Whigs, Mormons versus Millerites, nativists versus Catholics, those who risked the venture westward versus those who stayed safely behind—and how Polk's election cemented the vision of a continental nation.

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Yes, you can access America 1844 by John Bicknell,John Bicknell in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & North American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. 1844 Chronology
  7. Prologue: New Year’s Day at the White House
  8. 1 “This Glorious Hope”
  9. 2 A Prophet for President
  10. 3 “Annexation and War 
 Are Identical”
  11. 4 “Who the Devil Is Polk?”
  12. 5 The Missionary and the Publicist
  13. 6 To Oregon and California
  14. 7 Summer of Discontent
  15. 8 The Great Disappointment
  16. 9 “The Severest Struggle Ever Witnessed”
  17. Epilogue: The Shaping of America
  18. Acknowledgments
  19. Notes
  20. Bibliography