Review
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Title: America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation
Author: John Bicknell
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Year Published: 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61373-010-2
Pages: 305
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781613730102
Price: $26.95
Reviewed by Gary McCary for the Association for Mormon Letters
(Note: McCary is pastor of the Tierrasanta Seventh-day Adventist Church in San Diego, California. His insights into the content of the book will be of interest to our readers. JN)
The 19th century in America is a fascinating study for historians. At its beginning you have the infant nation trying to get its footing, with an icon, Thomas Jefferson, as President, and half a continent yet to be fully explored. Shortly thereafter you have another war with the British that will sap the nation of some of its strength, yet provide it with genuine independence. The young nation will start to stretch its legs and begin its painful westward trek. A growing desire to annex Texas will become one of the key political issues as the century nears its midpoint. At the same time, the national mood of independence and free thought will bring about the rise of “home-grown” religious movements, the most lasting and influential of which will be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventists. And the great presidential election of 1844 will coalesce all of these energetic ideas. Had Henry Clay won instead of James K. Polk, we would probably be living in a different kind of country today. But that is for the reader to determine.
Religious and secular America are well-balanced in John Bicknell’s wonderful slice of history, “America 1844.” For a Mormon or Seventh-day Adventist especially, this book will reveal a treasure-trove of historical information that has largely been overlooked by both religious and secular historians. When an SDA today hears or reads the date “1844,” it immediately brings to mind the germinating seed of Adventism–the “Great Disappointment” of October 22, 1844, and the mastermind of it all, William Miller. When a Mormon hears the same date, he or she is reminded of the tragic death of Joseph Smith, but also of the decision, soon thereafter, to move the “saints” westward to Utah.
Bicknell devotes a significant portion of his book to the apocalyptic fervor of the Millerites. Though William Miller had not crystalized his eschatology until the mid-1830’s, his conclusion that Christ was returning “soon,” perhaps as early as 1843, caused a considerable stir in America, particularly in the New England states. One wonders today how a populace in the United States could be so “gullible” as to take seriously a clarion call that the Lord of heaven and earth was returning within a decade! What Miller actually did was tap into societal fears that the world was as evil as it had ever been. He was also taken seriously because the general population–even the non-church-goers–tended to take the Bible seriously in the mid-19th century.
Miller’s “gift” of connecting passages from the biblical books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation struck a responsive chord with thousands of Christians, particularly those of the Methodist and Baptist persuasions (what some refer to as “low church”). Most of these folks were from the poorer classes. Bicknell shows, however, that had it not been for the assistance of a printer named Joshua V. Himes, Miller’s message might never have gotten off the ground. Due to Himes’ publication of Miller’s message, thousands attended “camp meetings” to hear Miller preach, and thousands were converted. They were called “Adventists” and “Millerites.”
This apocalyptic mood seeped into the national life as well, Bicknell tell us. Everyday folks saw current events as somehow “foretold” by prophets of old. They saw America crumbling under the weight of political corruption and greed. The stock market crash of 1837 portended a coming “end of all things.” Violent disturbances and outright riots in large cities such as Philadelphia told average folks that some sort of cataclysm was coming.
Bicknell’s work is crucial to understanding America in the 19th century, for the “mood” did not just appear out of thin air in 1844, but had been building for more than a decade, and would remain for the rest of the century, heightened, of course, by the issue of slavery and the slaughter of the Civil War.
Bicknell moves naturally between the Millerites, the Mormons, and the politics of the day. He brings to the history quotations from significant people about William Miller, Joseph Smith, and the annexation of Texas. Bicknell shows that the year 1844 was indeed pivotal as the nation wrestled with slavery, expansion, immigration, anti-Catholicism, and newfangled religious movements. This is a must-read for anyone who loves U.S. history and religion in America, a seminal contribution to a most important era for all lovers of American history.