BOOK REVIEWS
The United States, 1830-1850: The
Nation and Its Sections. By Frederick
Jackson Turner. (New York, Peter Smith,
1950. xiv+602p., maps and
index. $5.00.)
This book was originally published by
Henry Holt in 1935. For several
years it has been difficult to obtain,
and scholars and librarians have reason
to be grateful both to Henry Holt for
releasing the book and to Peter
Smith for the reissue. Technically this
photo-offset edition is excellent,
and it is doubtful if any but an expert
in such matters could distinguish
this from a letterpress edition.
When this volume appeared over fifteen
years ago it was variously
hailed as Turner's greatest and crowning
achievement and as his most
dismal and pitiable failure. The reasons
for this wide disparity of opinion
are not far to seek. Although he had
done a prodigious amount of re-
search and had labored over fifteen
years, Turner had not finished the
book when he died. He had written most
of the chapters but had only
outlined some, and his notes indicate
that he meant to recast others. Had
he lived he would certainly have revised
and edited the whole. Fully recog-
nizing these inadequacies, some of
Turner's friends and colleagues neverthe-
less felt that the work should be
published. Avery Craven, one of Turner's
former students, undertook the job of
seeing the book through the press.
Craven wisely decided not to attempt to
finish the book or to make large
scale revisions but to do only a minimum
of editing. The fact that his-
torians have found the work immensely
valuable and have demanded a
reissue would seem to vindicate the
judgment of Craven and the others.
It would indeed have been a pity had not
the fruits of Turner's
last years of research been made
available. A pity for at least two reasons.
In the first place this is one of only
two books of Turner's which attempt
a narrative account of a fairly extended
period (Turner's other "history,"
called The New West, covered the
period 1819-29). Turner was probably
at his best in the interpretative essay.
But he was no less a master of
minute research and the amount of detail
presented is no less than amazing.
A second justification for bringing out
this unfinished volume is that it
represents the latest development in
Turner's thinking about the meaning
and significance of American history.
"Latest" is used advisedly, because even
had Turner lived to be a Methuselah he
probably would never have essayed
final answers. He was content rather
with proximate explanations.
324
Book Reviews 325
When one speaks of "the Turner
thesis" he refers of course to the
role of the frontier in American
history. To historians the name of
Frederick Jackson Turner and the
frontier have become practically synony-
mous. And yet it would probably be more
correct to speak of the Turner
theses, for in viewing the whole course
of American history vis-a-vis the
history of western Europe in modern
times Turner saw two unique features:
the westward advance of the frontier and
the development of sections. In
this history of the United States from
1830 to 1850 Turner develops his
theory of sectionalism. "In these
years," he says, "new sections were formed
as new geographical provinces were
occupied. Regional geography played
a significant role in the economic,
political, and social life of a nation
whose territory came to equal Europe in
size and whose various sections
were comparable in resources and extent
to the greater nations of the con-
tinent. They were, indeed, potentially,
nations in themselves." In the
period 1830 to 1850 Turner finds that
six sections or "potential nations"
had developed in the United States: New
England, the Middle Atlantic,
the South Atlantic, the South Central,
the North Central, and Texas and
the Far West. As if this were not
enough, he also reminds us that there
were sections within sections. But under
these six general headings he
discusses geography, population origins,
education, social structure, and
economic interests. He then proceeds to
a discussion of national politics
from Andrew Jackson to Zachary Taylor
and shows how the various
sections influenced national political
questions.
In the development of Turner's thinking
the sectional approach seems
to have been a logical outgrowth of the
frontier interpretation. The
material presented in this volume would
seem to indicate that he con-
sidered the two interpretations as
complementary rather than antithetical-
as two sides of the same coin. Since the
publication of this volume the
Turner theses have undergone searching
analysis and have encountered much
criticism. Most of the controversy has
centered around the frontier thesis.
The most vicious assaults have been made
by the economic determinists
who insist that the key to American-as
to all history-is the class struggle.
Milder attacks have been made by the
votaries of the various social
sciences who have applied special
criteria in special situations and have
found the broad generalizations untrue,
inadequate, or in need of modi-
fication. No doubt these critics have
provided some wholesome correctives.
But in general Turner's critics have
taken themselves (and Turner) much
too seriously. They seek absolutes where
no absolutes are possible. Both
326
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
the frontier and the sectional aspects
of American history are so obvious
that they could not have long remained
undetected and unexploited.
Turner would probably have ignored the
bitter controversy over his
work. While others raked over old coals,
he would have gone on to dis-
cover new and possibly equally
controversial explanations. For example,
having written a book on the age of
Jackson from the western point of
view, Turner suggests that the same
period should be viewed from the
eastern point of view. In the last
chapter of this book he suggests that the
role of eastern and European
intellectuals, of organized labor on the
eastern seaboard, and of immigration
should be explored. There is every
indication that he did not feel he had
spoken the last word. Turner's ap-
proach to the American past was
heuristic, not polemical; his forte was
interpretation, not narration; his
interpretations were prudently suggestive,
not definitive; he wrote little but
inspired much. He was, in short, a first
rate academic historian in the best
sense of that term.
HARRY L. COLES
Ohio State University
An American Family: Its Ups and Downs
Through Eight Generations in
New Amsterdam, New York,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Texas
from 1650 to 1880. By Edward Nicholas Clopper. (Published by the
author, 1950. xiii+624p., illustrations.
$5.00.)
The Cloppers are an old
Cincinnati-Cumminsville, Ohio, family. Nicholas
Clopper, trader, businessman, farmer,
speculator, and promoter in Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, brought his
family to Cincinnati in 1822. There
were eight children, four boys and four
girls. Six of them were associated
in the main with Cincinnati, the other
two, Andrew and Nicholas, Jr.,
with Texas. Much of the volume is the
story of Nicholas Clopper, a man
of restless energy, unwavering optimism,
vision, and ability, who lacked
the stability to stick with his projects
in order to develop them properly.
The books begins with chapters on his
ancestors and concludes with
sections on Edward Nicholas Clopper, who
died in 1880.
The book, based upon an apparently
remarkable accumulation of family
papers, includes valuable materials on
the history of Chambersburg, Penn-
sylvania, of southwestern Ohio, and of
Texas after 1822; it reveals im-
portant data on business operations on
Maryland plantations, on land
speculations in Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas, and
on commercial and business enterprises
in Cincinnati and Cumminsville;
it offers early accounts from letters
and diaries of flatboating down the
Book Reviews 327
Ohio, shipping from Cincinnati to New
Orleans, the founding of pioneer
settlements in Texas, and fighting in
the Texas war for independence. The
journals of Edward N. Clopper and Joseph
C. Clopper of their respective
trips from Cincinnati to Texas in 1827
and 1828 are significant documents.
The book, however, is poorly organized
and its style lacks quality. It
is a detailed mass of family records, listing
dates of births and deaths and
of movements from one part of the
country to another or from house to
house and giving information on many
other personal family matters.
It is frequently marred by repetitions
and the inclusion of irrelevant
material.
JAMES H. RODABAUGH
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society
Lewis Cass: The Last Jeffersonian. By Frank B. Woodford. (New Bruns-
wick, N.J., Rutgers University Press,
1950. 380p., bibliography and index.
$5.00.)
Lewis Cass was one of the thousands of
New England puritans who built
a "Greater New England" by
settling western New York, northern Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois, and southern
Michigan and Wisconsin. Few con-
tributed more to it than did Cass. He
was born in New Hampshire in 1782
and educated at Phillips Exeter Academy.
In 1800 his family migrated to
Ohio and settled in the upper Muskingum
Valley.
As a young man, Cass quickly identified
himself with the new state of
Ohio. He read law, hung out his shingle
in Zanesville, and quickly built
up a flourishing law practice. Election
as prosecutor of Muskingum County
was followed by election to the
legislature a few months before he could
qualify by being twenty-five years old.
To the dismay of his father, he
forsook conservative New England
Federalism and cast his lot with
Jeffersonian Democracy. When Justice
George Tod of the state supreme
court was impeached, Cass vigorously
advocated the power of the court
to declare a law passed by the
legislature unconstitutional and helped to
establish this precedent. His effective
leadership was an important factor
in checking Aaron Burr's conspiracy in
Ohio. As a reward, President
Jefferson appointed him to the lucrative
office of United States Marshall
for Ohio. He entered the War of 1812 as
a colonel of a volunteer Ohio
regiment and served with efficiency. He
left the service as a brigadier
general in 1813, when President Madison
appointed him governor of
Michigan Territory.
328 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Typical of many pioneers, he moved west
with the frontier. Unlike most,
however, he happened to settle on a
500-acre farm in what was to become
the business district of a great
city--Detroit. This netted him upwards
of three-quarters of a million dollars
before he died. It was as territorial
governor for eighteen years that Cass
made his greatest contribution.
French peasants and fur traders, Indians
and American frontiersmen, all
came to admire his physical and moral
courage, his diplomacy, foresight,
and good judgment. In 1820 he traveled
5,000 miles on a canoe trip
visiting the Indians. No wars marked the
gradual westward retreat of the
Indians and their relinquishment of
millions of acres of land in the
territory of which he was governor.
After 1835 Cass was minister to France,
secretary of war, United States
Senator, and secretary of state, but in
none of these positions did he reach
great stature. In 1848 his party
nominated him for president, but he was
defeated by the Whig candidate, Zachary
Taylor, largely because of the
influence of the "Native
Americans" of Pennsylvania and the Free Soilers
of New York. Cass in his old age could
not adjust himself to the great,
rising ground swell in the North against
slavery. He saw Michigan turn
to the newly formed Republican party and
the principles of Abraham
Lincoln. He had lost the resiliency
which enabled him as a young man to
make a similar shift toward Jeffersonian
Democracy. Like Douglas, Cass
proposed to settle the slavery question
by the appeasing doctrine of popular
sovereignty. Be it said to his credit,
however, that he resigned as secretary
of state when Buchanan failed to assert
the supremacy of the Union by
garrisoning Fort Sumter.
Mr. Woodford, a direct descendant of the
pioneers who helped Cass
build a great commonwealth, has given us
a fine biography. A few maps
and additional illustrations would have
added to its excellence. His book
was evidently a labor of love. It
benefited by the author's experience on
the staff of one of Detroit's great
newspapers. He has used not only
previous biographies, but patiently and
carefully worked over original
source materials. He has caught the
spirit of the times in which Cass lived
and offers the reader pleasing and
profitable hours. Rutgers University
Press has supported the author by fine
craftsmanship in book making.
A. T. VOLWILER
Ohio University
Book Reviews 329
Haven in the Woods: The Story of the
Finns in Wisconsin. By John I.
Kolehmainen and George W. Hill.
(Madison, State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, 1951. ix+177p. $2.50.)
It was not until 1900 that the United
States Census distinguished Finns
from Russians, although the former began
coming to America in small
numbers before the Civil War, and their
culture pattern is much more
Scandinavian than Russian. The majority
settled in areas most similar,
geographically, to their homeland, and
their ultimate goal was to own a
farm, although they were forced to labor
in mines, quarries, and lumber
camps, and as dock and railroad workers
and fishermen, to raise the cash
needed to realize their ambition in
America.
Fully two-thirds of this narrative about
the Finns in Wisconsin has been
written by Dr. Kolehmainen, professor of
history and government in Ohio's
Heidelberg College and the leading
authority in this particular segment
of our immigration history. Although
concentrating on Wisconsin, this
is the best book on the whole subject of
Finnish-American immigration.
The authors begin their narrative with
an analysis of the conditions in
old Finland which induced so many to
spend twenty dollars on a ticket
to America, for though "the heart
pleaded NO, . . . the stomach com-
manded YES." Ships left Hanko for
the United States loaded with barrels
of good Finnish butter and hundreds of
simple rural folk who were ex-
porting themselves to the Land of
Promises across the sea. Two-thirds
ultimately settled in rural areas, and
began their life as farmers in crude
board and tar paper shacks, where the
overburdened wife and mother
looked after the cow, the family, and
the crops while the husband worked
part-time in mining or logging
operations. The cut-over submarginal
areas of Wisconsin, where ninety percent
of the Finns in that state settled,
are divided into forty-acre plots, and
marked with red barns, root cellars,
and typical Finnish bathhouses where men
steam themselves regularly
to keep their bodies strong.
Lutheranism is the religion of the
Finnish-Americans, though their church
split into three factions, and many of
the second generation find little
appeal in the stern faith of their
fathers. Temperance societies, which
were badly needed, provided an
opportunity for social activities such as
dramatic, choral, and gymnastic groups,
reading rooms, and folk festivals.
Workers' clubs and cooperatives were the
other most important organiza-
tions. Politically, the Finn has been
independently progressive, intrigued
in turn by Socialism, the I.W.W., and
the proletarian communism of Lenin,
all of which in their day promised new
hope for the underprivileged. "Hall
330 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Socialism" supported newspapers,
libraries, and many social activities, and
was largely responsible for the
cooperative movement, which the American
Communist Party tried in vain to
capture. By 1928 the Central Cooperative
Wholesale did a business of a million
and a half dollars a year. By 1931
the hammer and sickle label had been
supplanted by the twin pines which
symbolize the consumer's cooperatives,
and by 1948 the Central Cooperative
held its last bilingual session,
evidence that the Americanization process
was practically completed.
The Finn proved to be a successful and
desirable pioneer-persevering,
tenacious, thrifty, perhaps more than a
little stolid and phlegmatic, but
one who completed his naturalization as
rapidly as possible and took ad-
vantage of every opportunity which
public education had to offer him and
his children. The life of these sturdy,
plain people is described so well in
this little volume that the reader will
get a genuine feeling for the drama
of American immigration. The authors,
second generation Finns who have
not forgotten the language of their
fathers, use sources which are closed
to most students of the history of
immigration, and have supplemented their
work in the documents with field trips
and personal interviews. Although
they write with affection and
understanding for the group to whom they be-
long, they have produced objective and
sound history. The tables in the
appendix give valuable statistics,
gathered with great care and much labor.
CARL WITTKE
Western Reserve University