Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic by Adam Jortner

Abstract

Reviewed by: Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic by Adam Jortner Lily Santoro (bio) Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic. By Adam Jortner. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017. Pp. 264. $45.00 cloth; $45.00 ebook) In the January 1830 Palmyra (N.Y.) Reflector, Obadiah Dogberry assured readers that "we cannot discover anything treasonable" in the forthcoming Book of Mormon. To those familiar with the political and military challenges faced by Mormons in the 1830s, that readers would search for "treasonable" details seems likely. However, this [End Page 257] episode pre-dates the first publication of the Book of Mormon, and points to one of the central issues at the heart of Adam Jortner's Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic. Even as religious pluralism expanded in the era of disestablishment and democratization, "the immediate reaction to new religious revelation [or miracles] was the expectation of trouble" (p. 141). Focusing on the period between 1775 and 1838, this book unpacks the political and religious discourse regarding miracles, magic, and the supernatural in the early American republic, which, by the 1830s, seemed to conflate the miraculous with the treasonous. Highlighting a disparate group of religious movements that faced rabid opposition in the early United States, Jortner argues that miracles and the supernatural continued to hold (and pose a threat to) authority in American culture much later than most scholars have acknowledged. As described in part one, discussions of miracles, magic, and the supernatural were ubiquitous in early-national popular culture. For those purporting to have seen or performed them, miracles could serve as evidence of religious claims. Thus, miracles proved the religious truths taught by leaders as disparate as Ann Lee and Tenskwatawa. On the other hand, the threat of fraudulent miracles appeared to threaten the stability of the republic itself. Building on the work of historians such as David Hall and Jon Butler, the first third of the book makes the case for the continued prevalence of the miraculous in the early republic—in print, in practice, and in the public imagination. Yet, this was accompanied by a growing republican discourse that identified stories of miracles as dangerous because "they took advantage of the ignorant, they poisoned the morals, and they doused the fires of natural government" (p. 87). While this work also offers an interesting contribution to the growing scholarship on religious doubt, liberty, and politics in early America, Jortner joins authors such as David Holland in challenging historians of American religion to take belief more seriously. Instead of explaining why people followed certain groups, Jortner reframed the question to what those beliefs meant. Rather than looking at whether [End Page 258] miracles really occurred (or why people were fooled into believing in them), Jortner invites readers to consider what the belief in such a miracle (or lack thereof) can tell us about the politics of religion in the young nation. Sometimes Jortner's expanded discussion of the supernatural appears to lend a bit too much credence. Relying heavily upon print culture to demonstrate the persistence of supernatural practice, Jortner occasionally implies a greater influence for peddlers of magic and the miraculous than seems justified. Yet, in part two, this framework allows him to unpack some commonalities between some very unconnected movements and puts the rhetoric of early U.S. religion and politics in a new light. With chapters devoted to the Shakers, Native American prophets, Mormons, and smaller sects, Jortner demonstrates exactly how threatening miracles could be to the new political order, and vice versa. Telling the story of religious outliers from a new perspective, Jortner's narrative is engaging and his argument is very compelling. By taking his subjects' beliefs seriously, he is able to untangle a complicated discourse that helps explain why such disparate religious groups faced such similar suspicion and animosity. Lily Santoro LILY SANTORO teaches American history at Southeast Missouri State University. Her current research looks at religion, science, and citizenship in the early American republic. Copyright © 2018 Kentucky Historical Society