The Literary Retrospect: Margaret Fuller and Civil War

Other New England writers of note were Margaret Fuller, Bronon Alcott, Lydia Maria Child, Mrs. Sigourney, philosophic and progressive teachers. The North American Review was founded in 1815, and gathered around it a brilliant circle of writers, of whom Edward Everett (1794-1865) was one of the strongest. Everett unloaded his treasures of German thought. More than a hundred articles came from his pen. In 1824 his address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard on "The Circumstances Favorable to the Progress of Literature in America," was a prophetic precursor of Emerson's dissertation on "The American Scholar," delivered before the same society thirteen years later. Everett was noted for his high classical scholarship and for the careful finish of his prose style. But he was not merely a literary man; he was active in public affairs. He represented Boston in Congress for ten years, was governor of Massachusetts for three years, United States minister to England for four years, president of Harvard for three years, secretary of state in President Fillmore's cabinet for one year, and United States senator for one year, when he resigned on account of impaired health. Yet afterwards he delivered in various parts of the country an oration on Washington for the purpose of raising a fund to purchase Mount Vernon and preserve it intact as a national memorial. His final service was in delivering the oration at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, in November, 1863. His speeches were polished to the perfection of classical oratory, and were full of admiring contemplation and thoughtful admonition.

William Ellery Channing was a great name in the early days of liberal religious thought. The Brook Farm experiment grew out of the transcendental movement. It lasted from 1840 until 1847. Among its members were George William Curtis, Charles Anderson Dana, John Sullivan Dwight, Margaret Fuller, and George Ripley.

A new view of history was developed, as an outgrowth of the transcendental philosophy inaugurated by the German Kant, and carried out more fully by his successors. History was no longer regarded as a gathering of isolated arbitrary facts, but as the study of the progress of mankind. National history could not be properly considered apart from its relation to the general movement. Each nation was an actor in a great world's drama. Its contribution was best understood when properly presented in its true connection. The first group of historians is headed by George Bancroft (1800-1891). The progress of his famous work was interrupted by periods of service to the country. After a term as collector of the port of Boston, he was called by President Polk to his cabinet, as secretary of the navy, in 1845. He then founded the Naval Academy at Annapolis. He also, in anticipation of the Mexican War, issued orders which helped to secure possession of California. In 1846 he was sent as minister to England. Returning three years later, he fixed his residence in New York, and devoted his time to the history, but occasionally ventured in other fields. During the Civil War he was a firm friend of the Union; and after its close, he was sent by President Johnson as minister to Germany, where he remained until 1874. His later residence was at Washington, though his summers were spent at Newport, where his rose-garden was celebrated.

His great history was the result of conscientious research, careful consideration of authorities, and enthusiasm for the subject. Its style is brilliant, though in the early volumes sometimes discursive and declamatory. Probably the best part of his work is the last, written after the Civil War and the discussion of questions of reconstruction had shed new light on the fundamental principles of the Union and the Constitution. Though the author had not historical genius of the highest order, he was eminently fitted for his task by a liberal education, by his capability and disposition to take pains, and by his judicial insight, which was only occasionally distorted by partisan bias. Perhaps improperly called the "History of the United States," the work in its utmost extent tells only the story of the foundation of the nation, but it does point out the sources of its greatness, and sets forth the virtues of democratic government in a vehement, oratorical way, which rather provokes than disarms criticism. Yet the whole work, showing at first the exuberant enthusiasm of youth, and finally and cautious wisdom of age, is a grand epic of democracy.

Richard Hildreth's "History of the United States" is dry in style, judicial in tone, never aiming at brilliance or entertainment.

William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859) was not a profoundly philosophical historian, yet he became the most brilliant and famous of our historical writers. This was owing no less to his selection of romantic themes in which the American people felt an interest, as belonging to the New World, than to his artistic arrangement of the events, and to his captivating style.

The first instalment of Prescott's life-work appeared in 1837, having cost him more than ten years' assiduous labor. It was the "History of Ferdinand and Isabella," printed at his own expense. The romantic nature of the subject, enhanced by the author's dignified yet charming style, gave it a popularity which it has retained to the present day. It was soon translated into several European languages, and caused the author to be ranked as the foremost of American historians. In 1843 appeared the "Conquest of Mexico," which had an unparalleled reception, both from the general public and from the highest authorities. It won special praise from Wilhelm von Humboldt, who had visited that country. Four years later the "Conquest of Peru" was published.