What does it mean to be an American, and how have individual Americans consciously endeavored to create their own identity? “Self-improvement,” “self-culture,” “self-made man,” to “make something of oneself”–all are terms that were used from colonial to Victorian times. The particular language that framed the quest has fallen out of fashion, but it was a powerful cultural imperative for hundreds of years. The quest, in all its “post” guises, continues. Daniel How… More >>
Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln
Another very interesting book by Daniel Walker Howe situating American intellectual history in broader context. Walker Howe’s theme is the self-realization of identity by a series of important and representative Americans. Walker Howe begins with Jonathan Edwards and concludes with Abraham Lincoln, and includes a variety of figures, some well known, like Thoreau, others less known like Catherine Bushnell. Two crucial themes bind together these disparate figures. One is individual capacity to shape identity as Americans. The second this is 18th century idea of faculty psychology; the idea that the psyche is composed of specific components (faculties), notably the passions and reason, and that successful personhood consists of an appropriate balance of the different faculties. Walker Howe argues well that while the different individuals he discusses stressed different components and had different ideas about what constituted the faculties, the structural view of the faculties and the idea of self-construction runs through about 150 years of American history.
Walker Howe shows how the idea of faculty psychology influenced and reflected important currents in American life. The idea of separation of powers in the period of constitutional formation paralleled the idea of balanced faculties in individuals. The general democratization that occurred in the early 19th century saw the widespread dissemination and diversification of faculty psychology. Individuals from humble backgrounds like Lincoln and Douglass would draw on faculty psychology in their quests of distinctive and self-consciously American identities. Like all of Walker Howe’s work, this book is written very well and exhibits Walker Howe’s comprehensive knowledge of American history.
Rating: 5 / 5