The United States Army and the Making of America: From Confederation to Empire, 1775-1903 by Robert Wooster

Abstract

Reviewed by: The United States Army and the Making of America: From Confederation to Empire, 1775-1903 by Robert Wooster Rachel Engl (bio) U.S. Army, Military history, Manifest Destiny, Empire, Citizen-soldier The United States Army and the Making of America: From Confederation to Empire, 1775-1903. By Robert Wooster. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2021. Pp. 488. Cloth, $39.95.) The idea of Manifest Destiny helped to fuel the expansion of the United States from its founding as a country. As historian Robert Wooster explains in The United States Army and the Making of America, the United States Army was central to realizing this mission as "Americans used the army not only to secure their expanding empire and fight their enemies but also to shape their nation and their vision of who they were" (1). This book helps to provide a better understanding not only of the development of the U.S. Army, but it also helps to explain the role the army plays today in protecting what he terms a "new empire" (267). In the twenty-first century, military spending accounts for a large proportion of the yearly federal budget, but Wooster demonstrates that [End Page 121] this was not always the case. In examining how federal policies and priorities of the military shifted from the late eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, Wooster uncovers how debates about the role of the army were embedded with the discussion of the proper role of the federal government. These debates were crucial and central to those explored by the Founders during the Constitutional Convention and continue to shape how American leaders today grapple with military policy and spending. In the changeover of presidential administrations as well as evolving attitudes within American society, Wooster carefully chronicles the ever-changing size and mission of the U.S. Army. Wooster invigorates the traditional history of the army by incorporating into his study methodologies and insights gleaned from new military history, leading to a more comprehensive view of the politicking, compromises, and management that enabled a persistent force in the field despite wavering public opinion and a historical distrust toward a standing army. The transformation of the relationship between Americans and the army from an organization seen as a necessary evil to a public good began with members of the Federalist Party during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. In linking the army to a powerful national state, Federalists began to fundamentally change the nature of the debate about the existence of a standing army in a republic. This process continued through the election of several key military leaders into prominent political positions that helped to change the public image of the military by allowing Americans to see the strengths of having a close relationship between the army and the three branches of the federal government. Moreover, these war heroes such as George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and later Ulysses S. Grant not only used their military reputation to be elected into office but, once in office, their military background influenced the way they approached economic, political, and military affairs. They also worked to bridge the gap between the military and civilians by appointing former officers into leadership positions within the government or awarding federal contracts to former officers turned businessmen. One of the greatest strengths of Wooster's book is his nuanced approach to understanding the evolution of federal policy toward Native Americans. He demonstrates how Native American policy shifted in relation to military policy. While the army played an integral role in shaping and implementing federal policies toward Native Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century, in 1849, the creation of the Department of [End Page 122] the Interior led to the removal of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the War Department. However, this did not ensure the sovereignty of Native Americans, and instead, army officers continued to play an enlarged role in the interactions between the two groups, especially during the Indian campaigns in the South and West during the second half of the nineteenth century. Throughout the book, Wooster addresses the intersection of the army within American society by studying the myth...