What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America: 1815 - 1848
Hosted by the S.B. County Genealogical Society
When: Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008, 10:30 a.m. to noon
Where: First Presbyterian, 21 E. Constance Ave. , Santa Barbara
Cost: Free
Age limit: Not available
Categories: Meetings
Description: In honor of President’s Day, the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society hosts Professor Daniel Walker Howe as the featured speaker at their January meeting. Dr. Howe will discusses the invention of the telegraph and its multitude of consequences for American economic, social, and political life in an illustrated lecture entitled “What Hath God Wrought”. The program is free and open to the public.
In 1815 the United States was what we would today call a “Third World” country, where most people lived on isolated farmsteads. By 1848, America had become a major transcontinental power, undergoing significant territorial growth (doubling in size), booming economic development during a time of international peace, and demonstrating an increased sense of individualism, yet also nationalism.
A revolution in communications, in the form of Samuel F. B Morse’s telegraph, fueled this amazing transformation. Today with seemingly too many communication options available to us, it’s difficult to imagine the world of our ancestors who lived during this time. The telegraph was arguably even more important than the Internet!
Dr. Howe is Rhodes Professor American History Emeritus, Oxford University, and Professor of History Emeritus of UCLA. His book, “What God Hath Wrought”, The Transformation of America, 1815 – 1848 been named a finalist for Non-fiction by the National Book Critics Circle for 2008, with winners to be announced in New York, March 9, 2008.
Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society holds monthly meetings at the First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance Ave., every 3rd Saturday of the month for members and the public who are interested in genealogy and family history. General meeting begins at 10:30, with the program commencing at 11:00.
Daniel Walker Howe is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus, Oxford University and Professor of History Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles. He is also the author of The Political Culture of the American Whigs and Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. He can be reached at howe.history.ucla.edu.
Phone: 805-689-0756
Event posted Feb. 8, 2008
Last updated Feb. 8, 2008
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