Every four years the course of American history can be changed along with the political landscape being upended, but sometimes those years are not just about politics. America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election that Transformed the Nation by John Bicknell follows the various strands of events that were independent of one another yet influenced each other with long term consequences.

In the United States the year of 1844 was already going to be important due to the upcoming Presidential Election, yet the political maneuvering by the President without a party John Tyler would entirely change the upcoming campaign. Through attempts to put potential rivals on the Supreme Court to kickstarting the issue of the annexation of Texas, Tyler’s actions aided by southern slave-owning politicians upended the Presidential campaign as little-known Tennessean James K. Polk took the Democratic nomination to face off with longstanding Whig stalwart Henry Clay whose self-imposed wounds would help cost him the White House and change American history. Another politically costly mistake for Clay and the Whigs was cozying up to nativists whose mob violence against Catholics particularly in Philadelphia not only sent the Catholic vote to the Democrats but also future Irish Catholic immigrants to New York and Boston. A candidate for President that many today did not know ran was the founder of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith, who to protect his followers ran to bring their constitutional rights to the fore only for an anti-Mormon mob to storm the jail he was housed in and kill him. The resulting succession crisis led to Brigham Young’s ascension to leadership and later his decision to head to the Great Salt Lake. Young’s decision was based on the pamphlets written by John C. Fremont explored the uncharted western portions of the North American continent along with numerous emigres journeying from the East to the West for a better more prosperous future. And yet some Americans believed a better future was not on Earth but in Heaven as they eagerly anticipated the Second Coming based on the teachings of William Miller and his associates, while confused after the passing of Miller’s belief it would occur in the spring of that year the news that Miller had been off by seven months ignited hope throughout the extended Millerite community only for the Great Disappointment of October 22 to bring confusion to their beliefs. By the end of the year the course of America’s future would be set, the expansion westward would cause war with Mexican and later Civil War that would uproot slavery while allowing the two largest indigenous American founded religions to grow and expand in the Church of Latter-Day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventist church, the largest successor of the Millerite movement.

Bicknell covers all the above in almost 260 pages, attempting—for the most part successfully—to give cover the year chronologically through separating themes in each chapter. The overall history is generally correct and the addition of journeys of western pioneers gives the book more “life” then the sometimes stall retellings of political maneuverings back in the 19th Century. There are some little nitpick items related to the Millerites’ “spring disappointment”, but nothing that is majorly erroneous.

America 1844 is a concise look at 366 days in the life of the United States that saw its political and religious life changed dramatically with significant influence on the future, not only immediately but long term. ( )

1844 was a year of transition for the United States. It was a period where things were about to change drastically. From the annexation of Texas to the end of slavery, the future of the country was up in the air. The presidential election was even full of contention.

In summarizing, the author offers an alternate history of what might have been if Polk had not been elected. If instead Henry Clay had won rather than James Polk, Texas would not have been immediately annexed, which may have prevented a war with Mexico. Also, Clay would have pushed for selling land to settlers rather than giving it away in order to fund public works projects.

I found the most interesting portion of the book the story of a couple of migrating parties travelling West as well as the depiction of John Fremont who explored the West. The political story was a bit too tedious to hold my interest, which disappointed me because I was looking forward to learning more about that campaign. The more engaging segments of the election concerned religious leaders William Miller and Joseph Smith’s failed campaigns.

The big question in 1844 was the future of Texas, recently annexed following the defeat of Mexico. While John Bicknell’s history of a watershed moment in U.S. history also elaborates on other issues—continuing westward migration, the rise of the Second Adventists with their expectation of the immediate return of Christ, the murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith in a Missouri jail, the continuing political rise of Henry Clay—in America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed a Nation, he elaborates on how the Texas question inevitably led to the slavery question.

And, ultimately, the slavery question was indistinguishable from the moral question, which is why the religious revival of the early to mid-1800s was so crucial to everything that came after. How one stood on slavery was tied to which religious beliefs one ascribed to (it’s why there were Southern Baptists and two Presbyterian churches in America, after all). But the visionary ideals of new religious movements, including Mormonism, with their ideas of destiny, certainly played into the rest of the 19th century.

While Bicknell relies mostly on secondary sources, this is an extremely readable history of a pivotal moment in the U.S. past and an excellent example of cultural history as a means of understanding ourselves.

Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com ( )