These Truths: A History of the United States

I’ve been reading this tome since January as part of the group read and the last part which dealt with recent history and right up to the 2016 election was the most riveting, probably because of its presence in our daily lives and the idea that our democracy may be unilaterally damaged by the unfit President that was elected. Lepore went to great lengths to draw lines between historical instances of threats to our democracy and what’s happening today and the biggest takeaway for me was that our country has dealt with issues of incredible tyranny in the past and gone on to mend the fissures and reinvigorate our democracy and we will be able to do it again when this period is over.

"A nation born in revolution will forever struggle show more against chaos. A nation founded on universal rights will wrestle against the forces of particularism. A nation that toppled a hierarchy of birth only to erect a hierarchy of wealth will never know tranquility. A nation of immigrants cannot close its borders. And a nation born in contradiction, liberty in a land of slavery, sovereignty in a land of conquest, will fight, forever, over the meaning of its history.”

There are many instances throughout the book where I realized there were times in our history where I was truly embarrassed and ashamed of our country. This took me by surprise. I won’t forget the names of Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker, who founded Campaigns Inc. in 1933 and are responsible for the defeat of health insurance for all and began the kind of dirty, scheming politics that have become a way of life for our elections today. Money, money, money has led to where we’re stuck and they can claim a large share of the blame/credit depending on your point of view.

The role of technology, public opinion and polling has not really been beneficial to our democracy in many, many ways.

So much to learn and this book goes a long way toward informing those of us who appreciate being educated. Very highly recommended. show less

In an age of political polarization, Jill Lepore reminds us that there has never been an age without political polarization. The faintest familiarity with United States history should convince you that political conflict has deep roots.

Some examples: the revolutionaries and loyalists fought vigorously over the issue of independence during the Revolutionary War; the Federalists and Anti-Federalists fought over federal versus state rights; the Mexican-American War was vigorously defended and opposed, as was the Indian removal policy, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson; proslavery and antislavery advocates fought intensely over whether new states should be admitted as free states or slave states; business has battled against labor show more since the 19th century; and the equality of races and sexes was vehemently defended and opposed for virtually all of US history.

Further, congressional violence was common throughout the 1800s, as when John Wilson stabbed Representative J. J. Anthony to death during a dispute about the administration of bounties for the killing of wolves. In 1865, Charles Sumner, a prominent abolitionist, was attacked and almost killed with a walking cane by Representative Preston Brooks for criticizing slaveholders. For this act of violence Brooks was praised by many and then later reelected. Political duels were also common, as when Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in 1804.

The mass manipulation of voters is also as old as newspapers themselves, which have always been in the business of supporting candidates and causes. Radio and television were always used for purposes of propaganda, and advertising agencies were immediately employed for political purposes. In 1945, Harry Truman proposed a universal healthcare bill, only to see the bill killed by a targeted advertising campaign deployed by Campaigns Inc., a political consulting firm, that ran thousands of ads capitalizing on widespread Communist fears. Labeling the bill “socialized medicine” and “a product of Germany,” the agency manipulated the psychology of millions of people with scientific precision, long before Russia interfered with the latest 2016 US presidential election.

The problems we face today are old problems with new technology, but the problems cannot be said to be more barbaric or more violent than the problems of the past. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Even if this progress is frustratingly slow, the conditions of today are far superior for most people compared to almost any point in the past, as horrific act after horrific act is painstakingly documented by Lepore throughout the book.

The United States, like any other nation, has a complex history of conflicting ideas, motivations, events, and institutions, with an equal mixture of well-intentioned and noble ideas along with racist, evil, and destructive ideas. Lepore doesn’t hide the negative aspects of US history, but at the same time doesn’t focus on them exclusively. Lepore notes that the US was founded on the concepts of truth, reason, science, liberty, and equality, and that current and future progress hinges on these truths.

Lepore reminds us that the founders of the United States were scientists and political philosophers before they were politicians. They drafted the first secular constitution the world had ever seen—one which did not mention God or Christianity a single time—and one that mentioned religion only for the purposes of granting religious liberty. Religion is mentioned in the Constitution exactly twice: Article 6 states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States,” and the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Thomas Jefferson noted that the three greatest men that ever lived, in his opinion, were Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke—a philosopher of science, a physicist, and a political philosopher. Notice that, during an age where everyone believed in God and everyone was Christian, Jefferson didn’t include Jesus or St. Augustine or any religious figure in his list. Likewise, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay were all well-versed in the writings of the scientific revolution and Enlightenment philosophy, including Bacon, Locke, Newton, and Montesquieu, in addition to Plato and Aristotle. (How familiar do you think the current president is with the writings of Aristotle or Montesquieu?)

The founders were creating, in their own words, the “American experiment,” based not on divine rule but rather on experimentation, freedom of speech, press, and religion, and open debate and free discussion based on principles of rationality. This is the essence of democracy as a political experiment; everyone is free to express their views, and differences of opinion are resolved through debates and votes rather than through violence. This is Enlightenment philosophy applied to the founding of a nation.

Of course, the implementation of this ideal was far from perfect. It was not lost on anyone that the author of the Declaration of Independence owned hundreds of slaves. While arguing against the arbitrary power of English rule and stating that all men were created equal, Jefferson simultaneously denied liberty to hundreds of African Americans working his plantation. In fact, four of the first five presidents owned slaves, including George Washington, Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.

At the same time, Jefferson was ambivalent about slavery and did work to gradually end the slave trade, while others like Benjamin Lay were strident abolitionists even before the Revolutionary War. And so slavery, an obvious stain on the character of the United States, was a complicated issue with people on both sides and sometimes on both sides at the same time.

While the United States has much to be ashamed of in regard to slavery and racism, the founders established the principles that the country could slowly live up to, even if the founders themselves fell short. By establishing a country based on the principles of reason, democracy, freedom, and equality, rather than on religion or divine rule, the founders set up the conditions for continued progress.

But progress, like always, depends on living up to the ideals of reason, free speech, humanism, liberty, and equality, and not backsliding into religiosity, racism, violence, and authoritarianism. And, like always, it also depends on an informed public, able to leverage the power of their own reason without falling victim to the manipulation of mass media or to the echo chambers of their favorite news outlet or internet site.

As citizens of the US, each of us has access to more information than any previous generation, yet in practice most of us consume information from a much narrower range of sources. The remedy to the problem of mass manipulation has always been the same: the development of critical thinking skills within the population, a commitment to reason, intellectual humility, and the toleration of competing viewpoints that can be debated in a civilized manner. Regardless of which technology becomes available, progress forever hinges on our ability to live up to these ideals and these truths. show less

I've commented on this history on the group reading page before, and the last section of the book has not changed my mind about it. It is painful. The mythic history of the United States taught in my public schools did not prepare me for college history courses 50 years ago, and even with considerable learning, I don't feel I was prepared entirely for this history either. The United States is neither exceptional nor based in morality, as much as we would like to believe it. It exhibits all the errors and follies of humankind right from the start, and it doesn't feel these days that it's gotten any better. Presidents and other politicians we may have thought were better than most are shown with all their spots. The intolerable show more partisanship of current days is an echo of our history from the beginning. Our leaders are no more noble than the people who elect them.

Lepore is especially good at detailing the failings of our political system, over and over again, to provide fair, equal and supportive government to all our population. Many of us have heard of individual instances. This history shows the errors and failures in repetition. It is infuriating, heartbreaking, and discouraging, and thus important to know.

Highly recommended, even if you have to put it down from time to time and utter profanities, as I certainly did. show less

These Truths is a comprehensive history of the United States from a political perspective, focused largely on who was in power and how they shaped the nation. But rather than idolizing these figures, Jill Lepore shows the far-reaching and sometimes unintended consequences of their actions. The essential questions Lepore aims to answer are these:
Can a political society really be governed by reflection and election, by reason and truth, rather than by accident and violence, by prejudice and deceit? Is there any arrangement of government—any constitution—by which it’s possible for a people to rule themselves, justly and fairly, and as equals, through the exercise of judgment and care? Or are their efforts, no matter their show more constitutions, fated to be corrupted, their judgment muddled by demagoguery, their reason abandoned for fury?

The book is organized in four parts covering major time periods: 1492-1799, 1800-1865, 1866-1945, and 1946-2016. While each part covers the major events that make up any American history textbook, where Lepore really shines is in making connections that put these events in greater context. She also candidly describes the flaws, mistakes, and sometimes corruption of the country’s leaders and systems of government, again providing a broader and more balanced view.

I came to These Truths in a time of despair for the future of the United States. The first three parts helped me understand that this country has always had its issues, from errors, omissions and incompetence to bigotry and hatred, in some respects not much different from today. But Part Four was more difficult to read, because Lepore’s analysis of “how we got here” during my lifetime was jarring, especially to the extent I was a participant. But that very discomfort is what makes this book required reading. show less

Lepore has written an amazing book, one that is as carefully non-partisan as anything can be in these days of an unfettered Internet, fake news, and polarized politics. She’s quite young to have such a fundamental grasp of large issues – 52 – and I admire her scholarship and synthesis of facts, movements, philosophies, wars, and issues into such a powerful book.

Her starting the history in 1492 startled me at first, but as I read her reasons, citations, and justifications, I came to see that the rise of nation-states dated to the collision of the Americas and Europe, the deliberate setting of this early date, of inevitability, of the United States. To ignore this date, manipulated as it was, would have ignored the fact that “the show more idea of equality came out of a resolute rejection of the idea of inequality; a dedication to liberty emerged out of bitter protest against slavery; and the right to self-government was fought for, by sword, and still more fiercely, by pen. Against conquest, slaughter and slavery came the urgent and abiding question, “By what right?”’ p 10

And then she relentlessly and amazingly lays out a history driven by the reaction to slavery and power, to freedom and inequality, to responsibility and abdication of responsibility.

It is profoundly depressing, frankly. It is beautifully written, intricately built one fact at a time, and basically says that nothing has changed. The forces that divide us haven’t gone away, haven’t been ameliorated. They have gained strength then waned, been newly motivated with new generations then gone out of style.

They are racism, sexism, and religious intolerance. They are power, control, and money.

If anybody can find a better way to interpret this book I’d love to hear it. show less

(5) Whew. What an undertaking. An 800 page densely written narrative political history of America starting in 1492 to Trump! Much of it was fascinating, though some of it was tedious. The central question of the book is - Can a populace govern themselves effectively and thoughtfully through a representative democratic government? The test case in the book is the U.S.A. as derived from the British colonies. Can the people take the reigns or will we be forever the playthings of accident, war, and whimsy? According to Lepore, the jury is still out and the prospects are not good.

I was most amazed at the echoes of today's culture wars and hyper-partisanship in the past. Abolition, the ERA, the Moral Majority. Here I thought opposition to show more teaching evolution in schools was a new beyond-the-pale crazy evangelical thing and it turns out to have been a 19th century hot-button issue embraced by a Democratic populist William Jennings Bryan. The political parties have jockeyed and reversed positions in terms of 'liberalism,' and 'conservatism' throughout our countries history. I was also amazed (and upset) that ultimately it is the 'industry' of political science that has put us at each others throats to better manipulate the electorate and capitalize for "their party," or "their candidate." My own beliefs on things like gun control, abortion, immigration, religious freedom are trumped up by an industry that doesn't necessarily have the nation's best interests at heart. Sigh.

I have come away from this undertaking much more knowledgeable about our country - it has been like a walk down memory lane of the History and Social Studies classes of days long gone by. I do feel like the book had an agenda, a bit of a thesis if you will that was not quite transparent despite the author's very valiant attempt to remain balanced. This is definitely an 'academic' look at history.

Overall though. . . Bravo! I am impressed, though thoroughly exhausted and a bit dispirited after reading which prevents a higher rating. show less

These Truths is an ambitious one-volume history of the United States from the time of the Mayflower in 1492 until the present day. That's a lot of history. Lepore deserves much credit for a gallant attempt to capture the changes over five centuries of history, immigration, politics, and technological advances that no one dreamed of when our founding fathers established their vision of self-government. Much research obviously went into this book. The clear and perceptive writing is enhanced by many illustrations that add to the comprehension of an intricate and often perplexing overview of history.

We are a nation of contradictions that started with the idea of freedom but built on the reality of slavery. I love my country yet have to show more accept that we are a complex and hypocritical nation. Beginning with the conquest of our Native Americans and a long history of subjugation of minorities, including black people, immigrants, and even women, we are still working on that liberty and equality thing.

It's been a real struggle governing a diverse nation, and we've had some heroic, memorable, and divisive leaders over the years. Lepore does a good job giving us examples of the people who have led us and the problems they have faced. She has for the most part provided a fair look at how we have arrived to the 21st Century as a democracy that is still looking for answers to the question of how we can live up to the goals of our forefathers who truly believed in the idea of human rights but got bogged down in the messy course of events that sidetracked their lofty ideals. Power and greed got in the way then and is still a problem in our country. We have a long way to go before the self-evident truths of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness become a reality for all Americans.

This is an informative and sobering book that I highly recommend. I'm glad I bought it and read it with the group. Now I just have to figure out how I can get my older grandkids to read about this kaleidoscope of events so they can understand the relevance of history to the times they are living in. show less