The Great Plains’ Effect on American Institutions
"The purpose of this book is to show how this area, with its three dominant characteristics [plane, or level surface; treeless; sub-humid], affected the various peoples, nations as well as…
The Sioux
"Bryant was right. The Sioux were big, tall, lithe, Roman-nosed Indians, among the most impressive of the tribes. As Clark Wisslet points out, it happens that most of our popular…
American Empire
"They had done that, the people of this book: they had brought in that empire and made that war inevitable. The soldiers who followed Kearny to Santa Fe and on…
The Wilmot Amendment
"This narrative has remarked that a decisive tum was rounded at some time between August and December, 1846. On August 10, the First Session of the Twenty-ninth Congress adjourned while…
Frémont’s Character
"Fremont . . . was worse than a fool, he was an opportunist, an adventurer, and a blunderer on a truly dangerous scale. He was foisted on the Republic in…
First Mileposts on the Emigrant Trail
"They arrived in time and were turned over to Parley's brother, the Apostle Orson Pratt. Orson was the best educated of the Saints and one of the principal intelligences, a…
Digger Indians
"And here [along the Humbolt River], if you were going to, you encountered the Diggers, their half-gram brains vibrating with the remembered murders of hundreds of kinsmen and with desire…
Slow Communications With Taylor
"Taylor sat under his grapevine at Matamor6s and could not have had a better press. Clearly the country appreciated his victories but the administration sent no official praise. The holy…
Conquest of New Mexico
"Late in the afternoon [August 18, 1846] the conquerors were ready. Two subofficials had come out to profess submission and, sending his artillery to a hill that commanded the town,…
Unpreparedness for War, Part II
The sole practical preparation for war that had been made was the order for Commodore Sloat to seize the California ports if he should learn that war with Mexico had…
Rate of Communication in 1846
"The vote of June 12 was to instruct the President to accept 49°. Three days later Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Pakenham signed the convention that settled the Oregon question forever…
Conquest of Sonoma
"Later, Frémont claimed that he gave the orders for the capture of Sonoma. He thereby outraged some of its conquerors. They acused him of wanting to hog the glory after…
Forces at Work in 1846
"This text has several times taken an image from astronomy and pken of energies which were drawing the "United States out of shape, as theory tells us the earth swelled…
Colt’s Revolvers
"From 1836 to 1842 Colt had manufactured about five or six thousand of his patent revolvers, the first successful repeating firearms. Bad financial management – outside Colt's control – had…
The Call to the Mexican War
"Polk thought with admirable realism about tariffs, the treasury, and the routine of domestic policy. He thought with. astonishing shrewdness about the necessary political maneuvers of government. But he thought…