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We are marching on a big Slinky.
In a nutshell, that
is my visual concept of U.S. historical events moving through time.
Through the years, other historians have advocated
different concepts. Sometimes, history is imagined as a straight line, or as a bundle of lines pushing forward and getting
longer as time passes. Or sometimes, history is a circle spinning slowly, repeating itself every 80 to 100 years.
In
this introduction on the Destination of American History, I visualize U.S. history instead as traveling an advancing and spiral
course, as if events and people were marching along the thin metal path of a stretched-out Slinky. We move around and forward
at the same time, repeating ourselves in some ways, but also reaching different destinations with every completion of the
full circle.
This document sets out to walk along this spiral path of American history; highlight the actions, the
events and the people that have propelled us forward; and describe the unique, yet inter-related destinations that we’ve
reached, and new destinations we've yet to see.
How History is Written
At the most basic level, a historian
is a news reporter. Events occurred; the historian finds out the who, what, where, when, how and why, and reports the findings.
But history writing at this most basic level really does not exist. Layered on top of this “reporter” level
is the historian as story-teller. Events occurred; but the historian selects the facts, then weaves a historical story, with
an introduction, protagonists, antagonists and some plot-lines; then explains an ending that tries to resolve the actions
and the consequences. And embedded in the story and fact-selection process, the historian usually inserts a message or a
subtle opinion so that as a history is read, a lesson can be learned or a theme can be understood.
With this straight-forward,
successful and basically entertaining “history as story” approach, the historical events themselves can be characterized
as a linear progression. This type of history writing builds upon the timeline concept, with the beginning and the end of
the history story connected by events and people and dates in an interwoven number of story lines and on a somewhat straight
path.
Cycles and Seasons
Differing from this straight path way to present history, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
re-introduced a new way to look at the events and people and dates in his 1986 book, "The Cycles of American History." In
it, he presents U.S. history as a repeating cycle that reflects the recurring struggle between pragmatists and idealists within
American society.
A few years later, in the 1991 book, "Generations – The History of America’s Future,"
historians William Strauss and Neil Howe took the cycle concept a step further. Their interpretation links U.S. events to
recurring generational archetypes. These recurring archetypes then are the driving forces that propel recurring periods of
history. Strauss and Howe have dubbed the recurring periods in American history with names such as Awakenings, Unravelings,
Crises and Civic Strengthenings. (See Chronology for complete definitions.)
As Strauss and Howe describe it, U.S. history
progresses like the seasons of the year. As the generations are born, grow up, gain power, grow old, then die off, so too
do the different historical periods emerge, grow in importance, then wither away as the next period turns the corner to take
its place.
And like the seasons of the year, these cycles of history trudge around and around, dragging U.S. society
along the way. But with this cycle-after-cycle theory, they end up in the same spots, like a rider on a perpetually moving
merry-go-round. The rider moves, but really has no destination.
Toward a Destination
Perceiving history
as a spiral, a.k.a., history marching along the path of a big Slinky, retains these concepts of archetype generations that
propel recurring periods such as Awakenings and Unravelings. However, this document also theorizes that each complete historical
cycle has pointed American society down a new path. Instead of just in circles, each cycle moves our society not to the same
starting point, but toward a new destination.
What are these destinations? I am proposing in these pages that since
the inception of the United States, our society has been focused on two core social concepts: Freedom and Equality.
From
the first inkling of a new nation in the 1720s, through the Reconstruction of the 1870s, to the world crises of the 1940s,
beyond today, and eventually into the 2020s, U.S. society has been moving toward and embracing new definitions of freedom
and equality on both a national and an individual basis.
The Destinations in Brief
Briefly, the initial cycle
(national freedom) was sparked by the First Great Awakening which spread a spirit of evangelization across the British colonies.
The cycle culminated 60 years later when the national Constitution of the United States was ratified and a new sense of national
freedom solidified throughout the new country.
The second cycle (individual freedom) was launched with another religious
Awakening. This faith movement preached a belief in the capacity of humans for “moral action.” Nearly 50 years
later, the cycle peaked as Reconstruction policies moved forward and a new definition of individual freedom was enforced by
the Civil War victors.
The next cycle (equality of nations) was sparked by a Third Great Awakening which reasoned that
the teachings of Christ contained the fundamental principles for the right-ordering of society. This new “Social Gospel”
also preached that the application of Christ’s teachings could solve current social problems. The cycle reached a culmination
60 years later with the establishment of worldwide organizations such as the U.N. and NATO and international efforts such
as the Marshall Plan. Together, these efforts helped to build a new sense of equality of nations.
Our current cycle
(individual equality) began with yet another Great religious Awakening. This was a new Charismatic fervor that placed emphasis
on the experience of the Gifts of the Spirit and on a pursuit of ecumenism. By the 2020s, we should expect this cycle to
peak with some type of civic strengthening that helps to create new principles of individual equality.
Looking
at our nation’s saga in this way, we see that the long-term macro-cycles of our history don’t just spin around and
around; their progress has a purpose. They (and we) have a destination to reach.
The information on this web site
attempts to illuminate those destinations. It describes the place where we started, the paths we have followed, and the places
we’ve arrived at. It also peers ahead to the next destination we currently are hurtling toward.
I hope you will
enjoy the ride.
A.T. Molinaro
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