A New History of the United States: The greater republic, embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year

In Short

Charles Morris’s 1899 historical narrative traces the trajectory of the United States from early Viking visits and European settlement through the Spanish-American War. Writing at the turn of the twentieth century, Morris presents the American republic as a continental domain expanding past the Mississippi, navigating the trial of the Civil War, and ultimately stepping onto the international stage as a global power. The narrative highlights key military engagements, political elections, technological innovations like steamboats and transcontinental railways, and the acquisition of new territories from the Louisiana Purchase to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Long preserved as a comprehensive period chronicle, the work reflects the late-nineteenth-century belief in Anglo-Saxon destiny and divine providence driving national growth. Its lasting interest lies in its detailed military summaries, its vivid depiction of political campaigns, and its direct expression of American imperial optimism at the dawn of the twentieth century.

The Story

The narrative begins with early maritime exploration, noting the ancient visits of the Northmen before charting the arrival of European explorers and the planting of thirteen distinct colonies along the Atlantic coast. Initial efforts at settlement face harsh wilderness realities, internal strife, and mysterious failures like the disappearance of the Roanoke colony. As English, Dutch, French, and Swiss immigrants establish homesteads, regional characteristics form. In the Carolinas and Georgia, the settlements frequently serve as sanctuaries for religious dissenters and the persecuted, even while suffering under erratic colonial governors and engaging in violent clashes with native tribes, such as the Tuscarora War.

Dissatisfaction with British governance culminates in armed resistance. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War sees patriot forces fortifying Breed’s Hill above Charlestown, where Colonel Prescott commands his men to hold their fire until they can see the whites of their enemies' eyes. Despite losing the redoubt when ammunition runs short, the Americans inflict heavy losses on disciplined British regulars. The Northern campaign brings strategic maneuvering, including Benedict Arnold’s clever deception that frightens Colonel St. Leger away from Fort Schuyler, and the eventual surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga. The struggle closes at Yorktown, where British troops march out to surrender as General Lincoln receives General O'Hara's sword, prompting late-night celebrations across Philadelphia as news arrives that Cornwallis has been taken.

Establishing the new government requires navigating delicate foreign relations and internal political debates. President Washington insists on strict neutrality during the war between France and Great Britain, demanding the recall of the disruptive French envoy Genet. To settle commercial grievances, Chief Justice John Jay negotiates a comprehensive treaty with Great Britain that secures the evacuation of western military posts, regulates international trade, and establishes boundary commissions.

Following the Revolution, population surges westward down the Ohio River in bullet-proof boats and along the great national road stretching from Maryland to the Mississippi. The national domain expands rapidly: the 1803 Louisiana Purchase doubles the country's size, sending Lewis and Clark across the continent to the Pacific, followed in later decades by the acquisition of Florida, Texas, Oregon, and the vast Mexican Cession.

Political life intensifies as popular presidential conventions take root. The 1840 "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign sees enthusiastic Whigs singing campaign songs from platforms and mountain tops to elect William Henry Harrison. Tensions over foreign policy and trade spark the War of 1812, which opens with General William Hull’s timid surrender of Detroit, before ending in renewed national stability under the "Era of Good Feeling."

Sectional rivalries over slavery and state sovereignty culminate in the Civil War. Early Union disasters at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff demonstrate the formidable nature of the conflict, prompting the appointment of General George B. McClellan to organize the Army of the Potomac. McClellan displays brilliant organizational skill but proves excessively cautious in the field, wearing out the government's patience during the Peninsular Campaign. In the West, General Ulysses S. Grant besieges Vicksburg, forcing General Pemberton’s surrender on the Fourth of July, opening the Mississippi River, and cutting the Confederacy in two. At sea, daring Union operations—such as Lieutenant Cushing’s night launch attack that torpedoes the Confederate ironclad Albemarle—gradually weaken Southern resistance. The war concludes at Appomattox Court House with Grant granting generous terms to Lee’s army, but national joy is immediately shattered by the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre.

Post-war expansion brings both rapid industrialization and severe economic volatility. Excessive speculation in railroad bonds triggers the Panic of 1873, closing factories and driving widespread unemployment. Gold discoveries in the Black Hills spark conflict with the Sioux, culminating in the battle at Wounded Knee. The United States also sponsors scientific endeavors, such as Lieutenant Greely’s tragic Arctic expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, where supply ship disasters leave explorers stranded in the ice.

By 1896, political debates center on monetary policy, pitching William McKinley’s gold standard platform against William Jennings Bryan’s energetic "whirlwind" campaign for free silver. The narrative reaches its climax with the Spanish-American War of 1898. Naval actions under Sampson and Schley bottle up Admiral Cervera’s fleet at Santiago, while General Miles lands forces in Porto Rico, welcomed by local populations. The treaty ending the war grants the United States control over Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, alongside the annexation of Hawaii and protective oversight of Cuba. The volume concludes by contrasting the nation's low per-capita debt and booming industrial strength with European financial burdens, framing the Greater Republic as an expanding world power entering the twentieth century.

How It Unfolds

Vanishing in the wilderness Settlers under Governor White attempt to establish a colony in Virginia, but internal troubles delay White's return from England for three years. Upon his arrival, he finds the settlement deserted, with only the word "CROATAN" carved into the bark of a tree.

Standing fast at Breed's Hill Patriot forces spend a dark night raising intrenchments above Boston, facing nearly 3,000 disciplined British regulars the next afternoon. Colonel Prescott holds his men's fire until the enemy is at close range, repulsing two British charges before running out of ammunition and fighting with clubbed muskets.

Surrendering the sword at Yorktown Defeated British and Hessian troops march slowly out of Yorktown between a mile-long line of American and French soldiers. General Lincoln accepts the formal surrender from General O'Hara, while news dispatched to Philadelphia sets church bells ringing and crowds cheering in the streets.

Securing terms across the Atlantic Chief Justice John Jay travels to England to negotiate a complex twelve-year treaty addressing naval captures, western posts, and West Indian trade. The Senate ratifies the agreement, establishing peaceful commercial relations while guaranteeing pre-war debt collections for creditors.

Singing Tippecanoe into office The presidential campaign of 1840 sees Whig supporters gathering in mass conventions of twenty thousand people. Rousing campaign songs and hard cider fuel an unprecedented wave of popular enthusiasm that carries William Henry Harrison to an electoral landslide.

Dividing the Confederacy at Vicksburg Surrounded by Grant's forces and suffering from severe food shortages, General Pemberton surrenders the stronghold of Vicksburg on the Fourth of July. The Union victory captures 37,000 prisoners, secures the Mississippi River, and cuts the Southern states in two.

Striking in the dark river night Lieutenant Cushing guides a small steam launch down a dark, rainy river toward the Confederate ironclad Albemarle. Spurred by barking dogs and rifle fire from sentinels, Cushing drives the launch over a boom of slimy logs to detonate a torpedo directly against the ship's hull.

Tragedy follows victory at Ford's Theatre Five days after Lee's surrender, John Wilkes Booth stealthily enters the presidential box at Ford's Theatre and shoots President Lincoln. The assassin leaps onto the stage shouting state mottoes before fleeing into the night, plunging the rejoicing nation into profound mourning.

Stranded in the Arctic ice Lieutenant Greely leads a twenty-five-man military team to establish a circumpolar scientific station at Lady Franklin Bay. Disaster strikes when the supply ship Proteus is crushed by ice, leaving the expedition isolated in the northern fogs without its expected provisions.

Advancing through the hills of Porto Rico American troops under General Miles disembark on the southern coast of Porto Rico, where local officials and residents welcome them as deliverers. Regiments push inland through skirmishes at Coamo and Rosario River until word arrives that peace negotiations have halted the war.

The People

General George B. McClellan Appointed to command the Army of the Potomac following early Union setbacks, McClellan excels at military organization, drilling 150,000 soldiers into a formidable fighting force and becoming the idol of his men. However, an inherent defect in his nature—an excessive caution and shrinking from taking risks—causes him to repeatedly overestimate enemy strength, stall his advances toward Richmond, and wear out the patience of the national government.

General Ulysses S. Grant Rising to national prominence through his successful campaign against Vicksburg, Grant demonstrates relentless military determination alongside a total lack of personal vanity. He is characterized by an absolute confidence in his own mature judgment, an unreserved readiness to admit errors when pointed out, and a magnanimous approach to fallen foes, offering generous surrender terms at Appomattox that allow defeated Southern soldiers to retain their horses for spring ploughing.

John Wilkes Booth An actor whose fanatical devotion to the Confederacy leads him to plot the destruction of the Union leadership during the moment of Northern victory. He stealthily enters the presidential box at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, shoots President Lincoln, and leaps onto the stage brandishing a dagger before fleeing into Maryland on horseback with an injured ankle, ultimately meeting his end when cavalry forces corner him in a Virginia barn.

Lieutenant Cushing A daring naval officer who volunteers to lead a perilous night expedition to destroy the formidable Confederate ram Albemarle. Cool under fire, he navigates a small launch through rain and darkness past enemy guards, maneuvers over protective booms of submerged logs, and successfully detonates a torpedo beneath the ironclad's hull while under heavy small-arms fire.

William Jennings Bryan The Democratic and Populist presidential nominee in 1896 who champions the free coinage of silver against the gold standard. A dynamic and tireless orator, Bryan conducts an unprecedented "whirlwind" campaign across the country, giving multiple speeches daily to large crowds and winning numerous converts through sheer energy and rhetorical skill.

Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely An army officer selected to command a United States scientific expedition to Lady Franklin Bay in Grinnell Land. Greely leads his twenty-five-man team into the far north to establish an observation base, only to be placed in extreme peril when relief ships fail to deposit planned supply caches along the Arctic coast.

In Its Own Voice

When news of Cornwallis’s surrender reaches the capital in the middle of the night, town sentinels spread the word directly to the sleeping streets:

"Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken."

Analyzing the military leadership of the Civil War, the text sharply criticizes political appointments over genuine expertise:

"The most criminal thing it can do is to place a politician in charge of a body of brave men, or to appoint a callow youth to the same position, merely because his father was a good soldier and has become a politician."

Reflecting the late-nineteenth-century framework of imperial destiny, the publishers frame the acquisition of overseas territories following the war with Spain:

"The Latin race must decrease and the Anglo-Saxon increase, and that the latter, in a human sense, must be the regenerator of all who are groping in the night of ignorance and barbarism."

What It's Really About

Behind its chronicle of battles, treaties, and elections, the book argues that American history is a continuous, providentially guided march toward national greatness and continental dominance. It asserts that democratic institutions, combined with Anglo-Saxon industrial ingenuity, naturally expand to fill geographic spaces, turning wilderness territories into organized states. The narrative frames every major crisis—from early colonial hardships and the ordeal of the Revolution to the existential rift of the Civil War—as a necessary test that ultimately hardens national unity and strengthens federal power.

The work also explores the transformation of an isolated group of thirteen colonies into an active global empire. It presents territorial acquisition not as aggressive conquest, but as an inevitable civilizing mission, framing the absorption of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines as a heavy duty shared with European powers. Underneath the military details lies a firm belief in material progress, where transcontinental railways, steamboats, and telegraph lines serve as the physical engines of national unity and moral advancement.

Why Read It Today

This text appeals directly to readers interested in late-nineteenth-century historiography and those curious about how nineteenth-century Americans viewed their own rapid rise to world power. Reading it offers an immersive look into the period mindset immediately following the Spanish-American War, capturing the national mood of supreme confidence, religious providence, and industrial pride that characterized turn-of-the-century America. Its detailed accounts of military tactics, early colonial settlements, and colorful political campaigns—like the cider-fueled rallies of 1840—provide vivid snapshots of early American life.

Modern readers should be prepared for period attitudes that reflect the biases of 1899. The book frequently employs racial theories common to the era, explicitly celebrating Anglo-Saxon dominance over "Latin" or native populations, and frames Western expansion in terms that minimize the devastating impact on Native American tribes. Its language is unapologetically patriotic and often moralistic, viewing military victories and territorial annexations as manifestations of divine favor.

What lingers after reading is the sheer scale and speed of the transformation described. Morris conveys an overwhelming sense of momentum as scattered Atlantic settlements expand across three thousand miles of wilderness in a single century, construct giant rail networks, survive a massive civil war, and build an oceanic empire—leaving the reader with an unfiltered portrait of a nation at the height of its gilded self-assurance.