Flowers, Guns, and Money - Joel Roberts Poinsett and the Paradoxes of American Patriotism

A fascinating historical account of a largely forgotten statesman, who pioneered a form of patriotism that left an indelible mark on the early United States.

Joel Roberts Poinsett's (1779-1851) brand of self-interested patriotism illuminates the paradoxes of the antebellum United States. He was a South Carolina investor and enslaver, a confidant of Andrew Jackson, and a secret agent in South America who fought surreptitiously in Chile's War for Independence. He was an ambitious Congressman and Secretary of War who oversaw the ignominy of the Trail of Tears and orchestrated America's longest and costliest war against Native Americans, yet also helped found the Smithsonian. In addition, he was a naturalist, after whom the poinsettia--which he appropriated while he was serving as the first US ambassador to Mexico--is now named.

As Lindsay Schakenbach Regele shows in Flowers, Guns, and Money, Poinsett personified a type of patriotism that emerged following the American Revolution, one in which statesmen served the nation by serving themselves, securing economic prosperity and military security while often prioritizing their own ambitions and financial interests. Whether waging war, opposing states' rights yet supporting slavery, or pushing for agricultural and infrastructural improvements in his native South Carolina, Poinsett consistently acted in his own self-interest. By examining the man and his actions, Schakenbach Regele reveals an America defined by opportunity and violence, freedom and slavery, and nationalism and self-interest.

About the author

Lindsay Schakenbach Regele is associate professor of history at Miami University and the author of Manufacturing Advantage: War, the State, and the Origins of American Industry, 1776-1848.

Product details

• Authors: Lindsay Schakenbach Regele
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.11.2023
• EAN: 9780226829623
• ISBN: 978-0-226-82962-3
• No. of pages: 272
• Series: American Beginnings, 1500-1900
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, Biography: historical, political & military, HISTORY / United States / 19th Century, HISTORY / Expeditions & Discoveries, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Geographical discovery & exploration, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Geographical discovery and exploration, Biography: historical, political and military