Flowers, Guns, and Money - (American Beginnings, 1500-1900) by Lindsay Schakenbach Regele (Paperback)

About the Book

"Joel Roberts Poinsett is one of those figures who show up all across the expanding United States in the early nineteenth century. His career culminated as Secretary of War but also encompassed time as a secret agent in South America, ambassador to Mexico, South Carolina state legislator, and US Congressman-as well as as a naturalist and namesake of the poinsettia, which he stole from Mexico. While Poinsett was not an ideologue with a master plan, his consistently self-interested actions reveal an America defined by selfishness, cruelty, greed-and the use of federal power in support of them"--

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"For historians of Mexico and Latin America more generally, one of the book's virtues is that it places Poinsett firmly in the US political and social context rather than reducing him to the role of a pathogen set loose in early Mexican political life."-- "Hispanic American Historical Review"

"A revealing if at times critical biographical study that highlights the role of economic interests in early 19th-century foreign relations."-- "The Wall Street Journal"

"Scholars of US foreign policy have longed for a biography of Joel Poinsett, the diplomat, secret agent, and legislator who actively shaped US-Latin American relations for three crucial decades in the early nineteenth century. Lindsay Schakenbach Regele's marvelous new study more than meets the task, not only revealing the extensive scope of his influence at home and abroad but also making an important argument about the evolution of early American political economy."

--Amy S. Greenberg, The Pennsylvania State University

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.