Providence and the Invention of the United States, 1607-1876

Nicholas Guyatt is Assistant Professor of History at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia. He has studied at Cambridge University (B.A., M. Phil.) and Princeton Univeristy (Ph.D.). This is his first academic monograph, but his fourth book; a work on apocalyptic Christianity will also be published in 2007. He writes about American history for the London Review of Books and the Nation.

• Part I. Britain, America, and the Emergence of Providential Separatism: 1. Providence and the problem of England in early America; 2. 'Empires are mortal': the origins of providential separatism, 1756–1775; 3. 'Becoming a nation at once': providentialism and the American Revolution; Part II. Providence, Race, and the Limits of Revolution: 4. 'One glorious example': the limits of Revolutionary providentialism; 5. 'Deifying prejudice': race and removal in the early republic; 6. 'Divided destinies': the providential meanings of American slavery; 7. 'The regenerated nation': the Civil War and the price of reunion; 8. William Lloyd Garrison's complaint.

"In a work of admirable scope and learning, Nicolas Guyatt explores the transatlantic roots and multiple expressions of Americans’ understanding of God’s role in national life. He convincingly shows that providential ideas not only validated political goals but helped shape them, closing off some paths of development just as they opened others. Providence and the Invention of the United States is a superb contribution to our understanding of how American contested their national destiny from before the Revolution to the era of the Civil War." -Richard Carwardine, St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford