To
Confound
Pessimism.

What Value
Is History
to the Nation?

Dr. Ronald Fritze
September 6, 2004

The Republican form of Government
is the highest form of government;
but because of this
it requires the highest type of human nature —
a type nowhere at present existing.

Herbert Spencer, The Americans.

The English Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer made the above observation about 1900 while writing about the United States. As the quote shows, Spencer thought Republican government was the best form of government, but he was also of the opinion that no people in his day possessed the type of character needed to keep a republic functioning successfully. It was a pessimistic assessment from a Social Darwinist who believed in the possibility — in fact, the inevitability — of human evolution and social progress. It also shows that the "good old days" did not seem all that good to the people living through them.

American Nation II covers the history of the United States from 1877 to the present. During these years a number of important changes occurred in American society. Although the United States had started out as a rural nation, during these years it definitely became an overwhelmingly urban nation.

All of this time the American population was undergoing significant growth. The growth of cities was accompanied by the rise of big business and industrialization. Farming declined in relative importance in the American economy while industry became predominant. This shift made the United States a much more wealthy country and ultimately made it the wealthiest country in the world.

During these same years with the United States growing in wealth and population, it also became a world power. Prior to the Spanish American War, the United States had been largely isolated from international affairs and was not considered to be a great power. After the Spanish American War, the other great powers recognized, somewhat reluctantly, that the United States had become a world power. The subsequent events of the twentieth century bore out that judgment.

Urbanization, industrialization, and world-power status brought good and bad effects. The vast increase in the wealth of the United States ultimately benefited most people in the material realm. Initially, however, the benefits were not spread evenly. Many workers remained in wretched conditions of poverty in spite of working long and hard hours. People living in such conditions were rightly resentful and came to demand a bigger share of society's wealth. Unions rose to harness their members' efforts toward a common good. Workers experienced some nasty defeats but also won some extremely important victories.

In spite of the wealth of the United States, poverty remains a problem for American society and shows no signs of being solved.

The new wealth also created a group of super-rich citizens, the plutocrats, signifying an aristocracy of wealth. Their wealth was unique in American history and presented serious problems for American society. The super-rich had the resources to influence elections and to buy politicians. And they did. Furthermore, they did so on a large scale that threatened the foundations of the American democratic republic. The egalitarian principles of American society came under the threat of being undermined by the plutocrats. It was a problem that concerned people such as Ignatius Donnelly (his book, Caesar's Column, is required reading in our studies this summer) and it remains a concern today as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation demonstrates.

World-power status also presented a major threat to American values and political institutions. Contemporary critics of the United States call America an imperialistic and militaristic society. In fact, compared to the history of most other nations, the United States has not been particularly imperialistic and is definitely not a militaristic society.

Prior to becoming a world power, the United States had no empire, nor did it need a big military. After the Spanish American War, the United States acquired an empire, albeit a very small one by the standards of late nineteenth century imperialism. International trade grew as American industry expanded in size. That trade needed protecting and so the need for a major commitment to a navy arose, but the army remained small. As a result, World War I and World War II found the United States initially unprepared.

With the onset of the Cold War, the United States began to maintain a large, peacetime military establishment and that has remained the case for the last sixty years. The United States and its interests needed to be protected and that was the job of the military.

World power status and overseas commitments proved to be a mixed blessing. International trade helped increase the wealth of the United States, but it also increased its expenses and obligations. The two World Wars eventually drug the United States into the fray. The threat of Communist Russia's expansion prompted the Cold War, which meant decades of preparedness for an atomic war that everyone hoped would never occur.

Even the fall of the Soviet Union did not end the threat as the rise of Islamic militancy poses a new danger that will be equally expensive to combat.

Vast expenditures on the military are a late twentieth century phenomenon in American history. The United States had industrialized successfully without significant military expenditures. The impact of military spending on the economy has been a subject of intense debate since 1945. It is a stimulant or a drag on economic growth? The Cold War military/industrial establishment early on became a source of worry for some Americans including President Dwight Eisenhower. Would these circumstance cause fatal changes in the American traditions of democracy and republican government?

New wealth also created new cultural and societal opportunities. The average American's material welfare definitely increased between 1877 and 2004. People ate better, lived healthier lives, traveled more, and received more education. Particularly from 1920 onward, the basic aspects of modern American society were in place. Whether Americans became happier in their new modern society is a subject for debate. More goods lead to an increase in materialism that many people have come to deplore.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the 1950s reflects American society's concern about internal subversion, but it also reflects, at a different level, fears about conformity in an increasingly materialistic culture. Many social commentators see materialism as a dangerous distraction from the hard work of being an active citizen of a functioning democratic republic. From the era of the Progressives in 1900-1920 through to the present, there have been huge concerns about the survival of democracy in America. Hopefully, the study of history will help us all to live better in the present and work toward a future that preserves the fundamental values of the United States for all of its citizen. If Americans succeed, we will confound Herbert Spencer's pessimistic assessment of human frailty and republican government.