Reassessing William Prescott's history of the conquest of Mexico as literary history

Abstract

Virtually all critics of William Prescott's work assume that he wrote “literary” history because he was emulating the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott and other romantic authors. Critics also assume that Prescott's greatest work, History of the Conquest of Mexico, was intended to shape readers’ views concerning the great political and social questions of antebellum America. This essay seeks to reinterpret Prescott's ideological intentions, and reassess the “literary” nature of History of the Conquest of Mexico, by placing Prescott and his work within the broader context of Whig historiography and classical learning that were essential to his education and training as a historian.