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Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War
Steve Inskeep tells the riveting story of John and Jessie Frémont, the husband and wife team who in the 1800s were instrumental in the westward expansion of the United States, and thus became America's first great political couple
In 1813, John Frémont was born a nobody. His mother conceived him out of wedlock, and at age 13, in Charleston, South Carolina, he was sent to work to support her and his siblings. But, via the assistance of series of mentors, he rose from obscurity, making his way to Washington, before joining the upper echelons of society by marrying the daughter of an influential senator, Thomas Hart Benton, who only reluctantly blessed their union. Jessie Benton Frémont, as she came to be known, had grown up in the mold of her father, knowing personally then President Andrew Jackson, but her ambition was frustrated. She had limited options for own career advancement, at a time when women could not yet vote let alone hold public office. But she threw herself passionately into the promotion of her husband who rose to become one of the most famous men of the era. John travelled thousands of miles on horseback, at times with an almost willful indifference to his safety and that of the other members of his expeditions, many of whom would perish, in an effort to map the uncharted American West. The notes and letters he would send home Jessie skillfully shaped into dramatic reports and bestselling books. She became his political adviser, and was gradually recognized as a political force in her own right. Thus she helped lift John to a seat in the Senate, and ultimately to propel him, in 1856, to become the first-ever presidential nominee of the newly established Republican party.
With rare detail and in consummate style, Inskeep tells this story of a couple whose joint ambitions and talents seemed somehow intertwined with those of the nascent United States itself. The Frémonts came to be influential to not one but three great social movements of the times--westward settlement, women's rights and opposition to slavery. Their adventures amount to nothing less than a tour of the early American soul.
In 1813, John Frémont was born a nobody. His mother conceived him out of wedlock, and at age 13, in Charleston, South Carolina, he was sent to work to support her and his siblings. But, via the assistance of series of mentors, he rose from obscurity, making his way to Washington, before joining the upper echelons of society by marrying the daughter of an influential senator, Thomas Hart Benton, who only reluctantly blessed their union. Jessie Benton Frémont, as she came to be known, had grown up in the mold of her father, knowing personally then President Andrew Jackson, but her ambition was frustrated. She had limited options for own career advancement, at a time when women could not yet vote let alone hold public office. But she threw herself passionately into the promotion of her husband who rose to become one of the most famous men of the era. John travelled thousands of miles on horseback, at times with an almost willful indifference to his safety and that of the other members of his expeditions, many of whom would perish, in an effort to map the uncharted American West. The notes and letters he would send home Jessie skillfully shaped into dramatic reports and bestselling books. She became his political adviser, and was gradually recognized as a political force in her own right. Thus she helped lift John to a seat in the Senate, and ultimately to propel him, in 1856, to become the first-ever presidential nominee of the newly established Republican party.
With rare detail and in consummate style, Inskeep tells this story of a couple whose joint ambitions and talents seemed somehow intertwined with those of the nascent United States itself. The Frémonts came to be influential to not one but three great social movements of the times--westward settlement, women's rights and opposition to slavery. Their adventures amount to nothing less than a tour of the early American soul.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2020
About the author
Steve Inskeep
8 books184 followersSteve Inskeep (/ˈɪnskiːp/; born June 16, 1968) is one of the current hosts of Morning Edition on National Public Radio. He, along with co-host David Greene and Rachel Martin were assigned as interim hosts to succeed Bob Edwards after NPR reassigned Edwards to Senior Correspondent after April 30, 2004. Inskeep and Montagne were officially named hosts of Morning Edition in December 2004. (David Greene joined the team as the third co-host in 2012.) Prior to being host of Morning Edition, Inskeep was NPR's transportation correspondent and the host of Weekend All Things Considered.
Inskeep is the author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, published in October 2011. The book examines the changes associated with the dramatic growth of Karachi, Pakistan, in the second half of the twentieth century. Inskeep has made several trips to Pakistan in his role at NPR.
Inskeep was raised in Carmel, Indiana, and graduated from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky in 1990. His first professional experience in radio was a stint as a sportscaster at WMKY-FM in Morehead. Inskeep was hired by NPR in 1996. His first full-time assignment was the 1996 presidential primary in New Hampshire
Inskeep is the author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, published in October 2011. The book examines the changes associated with the dramatic growth of Karachi, Pakistan, in the second half of the twentieth century. Inskeep has made several trips to Pakistan in his role at NPR.
Inskeep was raised in Carmel, Indiana, and graduated from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky in 1990. His first professional experience in radio was a stint as a sportscaster at WMKY-FM in Morehead. Inskeep was hired by NPR in 1996. His first full-time assignment was the 1996 presidential primary in New Hampshire
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June 7, 2020
How could I not love a book about a fearless explorer who almost becomes president of the U.S. on the eve of the Civil War? A book written by the wonderful host of my favorite radio show, NPR’s “Morning Edition” no less. On top of that, my father’s house is located on our hero’s former property! Unfortunately, Steve Inskeep makes it painfully clear that John Fremont was not as impressive as I had expected. Inskeep also needed more time to bring his protagonist into focus.
Despite spending over 20 years in California public schools and teaching a class on California government, I had no idea that John Fremont played a critical role in snatching the Golden Gate (he coined the name) from Mexico until I read “Imperfect Union.” I only became aware of Fremont while reading Donald’s masterful “A. Lincoln” and Chernow’s brilliant “Grant.” Fremont fell two states short of defeating James Buchanan in 1856 and got fired twice by Lincoln.
Inskeep casts a wide net. “Imperfect Union” is not only a dual biography of Fremont and his colorful and capable wife Jessie. Inskeep also includes mini-biographies of Jessie’s father, Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, Fremont’s multi-ethnic/lingual teams, his contemporaries and even the historical context--all in 353 pages. This forces Inskeep to gloss over major portions of the Fremonts’ lives so he focuses on the first 15 years of their marriage (1841-1856).
Fremont became famous based on his accounts of searching for the best routes to Oregon and California, which should make him the patron saint of the “State of Jefferson” nuts. He is credited with inspiring the Mormons to settle in Utah and tens of thousands of pioneers to move West. Yet, Fremont regularly disobeyed his superiors and needlessly put his men’s lives at risk. Insisting on crossing the Rockies and Sierras in winter led to the deaths of up to one-third of his men. The only Spaniards Fremont killed to wrest control of California were three innocent civilians. Fremont and his wife were the masters of image control and exaggeration. Newspapers referred to him as the most important American since George Washington. Unfortunately, we only get brief glimpses of who the Fremonts really were. For such public figures, they often kept their thoughts, opinions and even actions hidden, forcing Inskeep to speculate.
Even during the 15 years Inskeep focuses on, he glosses over important aspects of their lives. Fremont bought 70 square miles of land in the Sierra foothills sight unseen in 1847 for $3000. When gold was discovered on the land during the Gold Rush, the Fremonts became millionaires. Unfortunately, Inskeep does not describe the beauty of Las Mariposas (“the butterflies”) or even mention the time the Fremonts spent living there and becoming advocates for nearby Yosemite. We learn almost nothing about the Fremonts’ five children or what kind of father John was. I also would have loved to have learned more about his relationship with Kit Carson. Because Inskeep ends his narrative in 1856, we don’t learn anything about Fremont’s Civil War failures or how and when he lost Las Mariposas.
Like the Fremonts, Inskeep can’t resist a bit of hyperbole. To his credit, Inskeep points out the Fremonts’ efforts to exaggerate John’s accomplishments and minimize his failures. Yet, the title of Inskeep’s book is misleading. John did map important areas of the West, but he and Jessie by no means “invented celebrity” and did not “help cause the Civil War.” John was the Republicans’ first presidential candidate in 1856, but back then, candidates did not “run” for office. They stayed out of the public eye and let others campaign for them. Fremont issued exactly one statement calling for the abolition of slavery that year, but when he lost the election, he withdrew from politics and moved back to California.
Inskeep is thorough when it comes to maps, but the photographs and captions feel like an afterthought. There is not a single good likeness of Fremont (such as his wife’s favorite painting) or image of his expeditions. Instead, we get pages of minor figures and buildings and a full page of Frederick Douglass, even though he never interacted with Fremont.
Inskeep does a good job of describing Fremont’s five expeditions and tracks down some great primary and secondary sources. The letters John receives from Jessie are touching. Fremont has inspired me to pan for gold in the seasonal creek that runs through my father’s six acres of oaks and pine trees. I can also tell you about the Bear Flag Revolt (it wasn’t) and the Know Nothings (the precursors to Trump Republicans). However, Inskeep tries to cover too much ground in too few pages. I am sure he will be a great historian once he can devote himself to the task, but I don’t want him to leave NPR too soon. “Morning Edition” is an island of facts and moderation in the talk radio cesspool.
Despite spending over 20 years in California public schools and teaching a class on California government, I had no idea that John Fremont played a critical role in snatching the Golden Gate (he coined the name) from Mexico until I read “Imperfect Union.” I only became aware of Fremont while reading Donald’s masterful “A. Lincoln” and Chernow’s brilliant “Grant.” Fremont fell two states short of defeating James Buchanan in 1856 and got fired twice by Lincoln.
Inskeep casts a wide net. “Imperfect Union” is not only a dual biography of Fremont and his colorful and capable wife Jessie. Inskeep also includes mini-biographies of Jessie’s father, Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, Fremont’s multi-ethnic/lingual teams, his contemporaries and even the historical context--all in 353 pages. This forces Inskeep to gloss over major portions of the Fremonts’ lives so he focuses on the first 15 years of their marriage (1841-1856).
Fremont became famous based on his accounts of searching for the best routes to Oregon and California, which should make him the patron saint of the “State of Jefferson” nuts. He is credited with inspiring the Mormons to settle in Utah and tens of thousands of pioneers to move West. Yet, Fremont regularly disobeyed his superiors and needlessly put his men’s lives at risk. Insisting on crossing the Rockies and Sierras in winter led to the deaths of up to one-third of his men. The only Spaniards Fremont killed to wrest control of California were three innocent civilians. Fremont and his wife were the masters of image control and exaggeration. Newspapers referred to him as the most important American since George Washington. Unfortunately, we only get brief glimpses of who the Fremonts really were. For such public figures, they often kept their thoughts, opinions and even actions hidden, forcing Inskeep to speculate.
Even during the 15 years Inskeep focuses on, he glosses over important aspects of their lives. Fremont bought 70 square miles of land in the Sierra foothills sight unseen in 1847 for $3000. When gold was discovered on the land during the Gold Rush, the Fremonts became millionaires. Unfortunately, Inskeep does not describe the beauty of Las Mariposas (“the butterflies”) or even mention the time the Fremonts spent living there and becoming advocates for nearby Yosemite. We learn almost nothing about the Fremonts’ five children or what kind of father John was. I also would have loved to have learned more about his relationship with Kit Carson. Because Inskeep ends his narrative in 1856, we don’t learn anything about Fremont’s Civil War failures or how and when he lost Las Mariposas.
Like the Fremonts, Inskeep can’t resist a bit of hyperbole. To his credit, Inskeep points out the Fremonts’ efforts to exaggerate John’s accomplishments and minimize his failures. Yet, the title of Inskeep’s book is misleading. John did map important areas of the West, but he and Jessie by no means “invented celebrity” and did not “help cause the Civil War.” John was the Republicans’ first presidential candidate in 1856, but back then, candidates did not “run” for office. They stayed out of the public eye and let others campaign for them. Fremont issued exactly one statement calling for the abolition of slavery that year, but when he lost the election, he withdrew from politics and moved back to California.
Inskeep is thorough when it comes to maps, but the photographs and captions feel like an afterthought. There is not a single good likeness of Fremont (such as his wife’s favorite painting) or image of his expeditions. Instead, we get pages of minor figures and buildings and a full page of Frederick Douglass, even though he never interacted with Fremont.
Inskeep does a good job of describing Fremont’s five expeditions and tracks down some great primary and secondary sources. The letters John receives from Jessie are touching. Fremont has inspired me to pan for gold in the seasonal creek that runs through my father’s six acres of oaks and pine trees. I can also tell you about the Bear Flag Revolt (it wasn’t) and the Know Nothings (the precursors to Trump Republicans). However, Inskeep tries to cover too much ground in too few pages. I am sure he will be a great historian once he can devote himself to the task, but I don’t want him to leave NPR too soon. “Morning Edition” is an island of facts and moderation in the talk radio cesspool.
February 20, 2020
I enjoyed listening to this book. . .and must admit that it felt very contemporary. This may be because the author was the narrator, and so felt in places rather NPRish. All the fighting and biting and pointing and poking! Oh, and dueling! As stupid as we feel today about our politicos and their tussles, at least they aren't going out behind bushes and killing each other over handkerchiefs and mislaid insults. Wait. ? Maybe that would solve some. . .no. forget I said anything. . . .
From the origins of Jessie and John C's birthplaces and families, to the many places they lived or championed if they didn't live there, the narrative was an enlivened, yet academic one. This reader felt she was galloping over the continent, observing John C's bold and brave moments, and his petty hissy fits. And was there ever a more saintly woman than Jessie? Hardly - she lived fiercely, even if that fierceness was a little misplaced, it seemed. However, one does what one has to in order to make your world come round right (with or without its principals! She did a pretty good job without Himself about).
I enjoyed this read - had read Immortal Wife by Irving Stone years ago, and felt I was fully informed on this subject. Master Inskeep brought me up sharp there - it wasn't just a love story, it was a all-across-the-nation-and-back story, rivaling that of Lewis & Clark if not surpassing it. L&C just had better publicity agents. Poor Jess was on her own, but still the epic happened. Thanks to the author for getting the word out on the incidentals that are not so incidental - gossipy tidbits about elections, legislative struggles, reminding us of the 1800-what-ifs that we've forgotten in the decades (if we ever knew them), and then that slimy nugget, the birth of the republican party - it's good to be reminded of that, just for its model as a cautionary tale.
4 stars pulled through South Pass at a fast clip headed for California! HeyHo! The Pathfinder!
From the origins of Jessie and John C's birthplaces and families, to the many places they lived or championed if they didn't live there, the narrative was an enlivened, yet academic one. This reader felt she was galloping over the continent, observing John C's bold and brave moments, and his petty hissy fits. And was there ever a more saintly woman than Jessie? Hardly - she lived fiercely, even if that fierceness was a little misplaced, it seemed. However, one does what one has to in order to make your world come round right (with or without its principals! She did a pretty good job without Himself about).
I enjoyed this read - had read Immortal Wife by Irving Stone years ago, and felt I was fully informed on this subject. Master Inskeep brought me up sharp there - it wasn't just a love story, it was a all-across-the-nation-and-back story, rivaling that of Lewis & Clark if not surpassing it. L&C just had better publicity agents. Poor Jess was on her own, but still the epic happened. Thanks to the author for getting the word out on the incidentals that are not so incidental - gossipy tidbits about elections, legislative struggles, reminding us of the 1800-what-ifs that we've forgotten in the decades (if we ever knew them), and then that slimy nugget, the birth of the republican party - it's good to be reminded of that, just for its model as a cautionary tale.
4 stars pulled through South Pass at a fast clip headed for California! HeyHo! The Pathfinder!
July 22, 2020
The name Fremont is everywhere: cities, streets, two mountain peaks and even a hotel. Even for a history buff like me, how he earned this acclaim was unclear. Did these namings and this book’s sub-title mean I’ve missed someone historically significant? No. Each of Fremont’s notable deeds has qualifiers – he is a dubious hero.. Now that we’re re-naming places and things, perhaps his recognition should be re-considered.
Fremont’s talent for math transferred well to working with a sextant a key technology for exploration and mapping. The skill brought him in contact with important people. At the age of 28 he eloped with the 16 year old daughter of one of them. Jessie Benton was daughter of a Senator from Missouri. After the marriage, Sentator Benson used his influence to secure expeditions and other benefits for son-in-law Fremont.
Inskeep shows a record that includes unauthorized requisitions of over $1 million; bad judgment that leads to losing men and animals to exposure and starvation; straying from the mission of his funders, betraying helpful native Americans and shooting and arresting friendly Spanish ranchers, acquiring and selling land despite a clouded title, disobeying Army and presidential orders.
Jessie, his dutiful wife, turns the letters he sends her into news. For her efforts he is acclaimed. She is alone a lot, birthing children (losing one) traveling thousands of miles, seeing their house burn down and putting life together again. Through all this, she promotes him, even as he goes way over his head in angling for and receiving the Republican nomination for president. The campaign shows, despite her promotional skills, he is not a Teflon celebrity.
The story flows chronologically. It is told in episodes and there are gaps. Some are in years; others are in key relationships such as: What is Fremont's relationship with the Army? He is a captain leading civilians on expeditions that seem to be on behalf of Congress for what seems to be business development and/or foreign relations. Senator Benson was out on a limb for his son-in-law. The Senator sees that Fremont leads expeditions and secures senatorial assistance in covering the unauthorized requisitions and mitigating the impact of the court marshal. When, and over which issues, did Senator Benson sour on his son-in-law? The only child we know much about (and not much) is Lily. I'd like to know more about Lily and anything about the other 4 children.
The author’s strength is in setting the stage for the Fremont's actions. A good example is on p. 274 where the headlines for August 22, 1853 introduce John’s search for a photographer for his upcoming expedition. Other examples are his giving the back stories of minor characters such Samuel Morris, John Sutter and Thomas Larkin to name a few.
This book can be used as a starting point for a future more complete work.
Fremont’s talent for math transferred well to working with a sextant a key technology for exploration and mapping. The skill brought him in contact with important people. At the age of 28 he eloped with the 16 year old daughter of one of them. Jessie Benton was daughter of a Senator from Missouri. After the marriage, Sentator Benson used his influence to secure expeditions and other benefits for son-in-law Fremont.
Inskeep shows a record that includes unauthorized requisitions of over $1 million; bad judgment that leads to losing men and animals to exposure and starvation; straying from the mission of his funders, betraying helpful native Americans and shooting and arresting friendly Spanish ranchers, acquiring and selling land despite a clouded title, disobeying Army and presidential orders.
Jessie, his dutiful wife, turns the letters he sends her into news. For her efforts he is acclaimed. She is alone a lot, birthing children (losing one) traveling thousands of miles, seeing their house burn down and putting life together again. Through all this, she promotes him, even as he goes way over his head in angling for and receiving the Republican nomination for president. The campaign shows, despite her promotional skills, he is not a Teflon celebrity.
The story flows chronologically. It is told in episodes and there are gaps. Some are in years; others are in key relationships such as: What is Fremont's relationship with the Army? He is a captain leading civilians on expeditions that seem to be on behalf of Congress for what seems to be business development and/or foreign relations. Senator Benson was out on a limb for his son-in-law. The Senator sees that Fremont leads expeditions and secures senatorial assistance in covering the unauthorized requisitions and mitigating the impact of the court marshal. When, and over which issues, did Senator Benson sour on his son-in-law? The only child we know much about (and not much) is Lily. I'd like to know more about Lily and anything about the other 4 children.
The author’s strength is in setting the stage for the Fremont's actions. A good example is on p. 274 where the headlines for August 22, 1853 introduce John’s search for a photographer for his upcoming expedition. Other examples are his giving the back stories of minor characters such Samuel Morris, John Sutter and Thomas Larkin to name a few.
This book can be used as a starting point for a future more complete work.
January 26, 2020
It does put you into the wide open feeling of the period. And how intrepid individuals, despite having all kinds of negatives/ faults etc. could truly roam.
Both of this Fremont couple were interesting studies for such length of histories. Never forget that they were through Jessie and associations, elites of the time. I don't think that association placement was emphasized to the importance it played in the various exploration financial supports.
I'm not so sure that without California or Oregon Territory additions that the Civil War would not have happened regardless. So I'm a bit dubious concerning that last part of the title. Not at all as convinced as Inskeep is.
Loved the photos, memes for the politico of that age and all the illustrations.
This author did a good job with the memoirs and records he had. It was a bit overlong on some points of emphasis, IMHO.
What a different onus these people had from the get-go! Like Jessie's Dad with the gun duels etc.
So now I do know far more about the originals of the Republican Party. Because of the differences in industrialization between the East/North vs the South- and how the economics of that consistently played out- I think the Civil War and sectional separation desires would have happened regardless of Western development.
Both of this Fremont couple were interesting studies for such length of histories. Never forget that they were through Jessie and associations, elites of the time. I don't think that association placement was emphasized to the importance it played in the various exploration financial supports.
I'm not so sure that without California or Oregon Territory additions that the Civil War would not have happened regardless. So I'm a bit dubious concerning that last part of the title. Not at all as convinced as Inskeep is.
Loved the photos, memes for the politico of that age and all the illustrations.
This author did a good job with the memoirs and records he had. It was a bit overlong on some points of emphasis, IMHO.
What a different onus these people had from the get-go! Like Jessie's Dad with the gun duels etc.
So now I do know far more about the originals of the Republican Party. Because of the differences in industrialization between the East/North vs the South- and how the economics of that consistently played out- I think the Civil War and sectional separation desires would have happened regardless of Western development.
February 22, 2021
This book offers a fascinating--if very dry--look at the lives and the marriage of John and Jessie Benton Fremont. John Fremont was a relentless and often unnecessarily risk-taking explorer of the land that would ultimately become the United States of America. He either saw or discovered everything from the great plains of America to the Great Salt Lake to the bay upon which Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) was being built. He lived through the Gold Rush and the Civil War, and he provided the opening gambits that brought the state of California into the Union. His wife was everything from partner to publicity director, and she was largely responsible for bringing fame to her husband during his lifetime. Indeed, she was far better suited for the politics of the life she and her husband had chosen, a fearless speaker and writer whose greatest sorrow was that she had not been born a man. Indeed, had she been a man, the author leaves little doubt that she would have been a profound part of the developing government.
Non-fiction is a tough because the writer is tasked with being historically accurate at the same time as breathing life into the many people who end up populating the piece being written. In this, I think the author only half-succeeds. One is left wondering about Jessie Benton Fremont's inner world as well as her friendships. Because of the lengthy periods of time during which John Fremont was absent from his home, I would have liked more information on what his way did to sustain herself and, particularly, her love for him.
Non-fiction is a tough because the writer is tasked with being historically accurate at the same time as breathing life into the many people who end up populating the piece being written. In this, I think the author only half-succeeds. One is left wondering about Jessie Benton Fremont's inner world as well as her friendships. Because of the lengthy periods of time during which John Fremont was absent from his home, I would have liked more information on what his way did to sustain herself and, particularly, her love for him.
March 18, 2020
I wanted to like this, but the author makes it hard. The writing is pretty flat and uninspired, and full of historical guesses of the "such an event would have interested the Fremonts, who may well have attended" type. Judging by the paucity of information in here, there's just not much to say about this couple. John was known for exploring the west and California, and Jessie for being smarter and more interesting than her husband, and for writing about his adventures, thus making him, and her, famous. Of course John was a terrible explorer, crossed the Sierras multiple times in mid-winter against the advice of local Indians and others, killing many of his party on one of his trips. He didn't seem to much care about deaths. John just wanted to be famous, important, and rich. His wife wanted to get him there. Not sure this makes either of them especially heroic. Granted, John had the guts to make insane journeys without flinching, regardless of who died along the way.
John was essentially appointed one of the first two senators of California, but that lasted less than a year, when he lost in an actual election. He ran for president in '56 and lost, thank god. He would have been a miserably bad president. The author then points out that the Republicans, destined to win in '60, asked John to be their candidate. He declined, a "lost opportunity," claims the author. Really? For whom? John? I guess so. For the rest of the world? I think we did okay with Abe.
John and Jessie wrote John's autobiography later in life. But long as it was, it stopped in '56, when he lost the election. The next 40 years of his life were left out. How odd, the author notes in the epilogue, where he briefly covers the last 40 years of John's life without noting the irony.
John was essentially appointed one of the first two senators of California, but that lasted less than a year, when he lost in an actual election. He ran for president in '56 and lost, thank god. He would have been a miserably bad president. The author then points out that the Republicans, destined to win in '60, asked John to be their candidate. He declined, a "lost opportunity," claims the author. Really? For whom? John? I guess so. For the rest of the world? I think we did okay with Abe.
John and Jessie wrote John's autobiography later in life. But long as it was, it stopped in '56, when he lost the election. The next 40 years of his life were left out. How odd, the author notes in the epilogue, where he briefly covers the last 40 years of John's life without noting the irony.
January 18, 2020
I'd heard the name Fremont, of course, but knew little about him until I started researching the history of the west, around the time of the Mexican War, the bloodiest war, percentage-war, we've ever fought. His name kept coming up so I read an older biography. A man of contradictions whose political connections through his wife is key to this book.
Well-researched and smoothly written, I've added it to my library. I recommend it for those who want to understand the convoluted politics of the time period as well as, of course, exploration of the western frontier. Fremont was integral to California's incorporation into the United States.
With this I can flesh out the character, along with Kit Carson, another fascinating character of the time in my Duty, Honor, Country series.
Like Custer, Fremont's wife did a great job keeping the legend ahead of the reality.
Recommended.
Well-researched and smoothly written, I've added it to my library. I recommend it for those who want to understand the convoluted politics of the time period as well as, of course, exploration of the western frontier. Fremont was integral to California's incorporation into the United States.
With this I can flesh out the character, along with Kit Carson, another fascinating character of the time in my Duty, Honor, Country series.
Like Custer, Fremont's wife did a great job keeping the legend ahead of the reality.
Recommended.
Want to read
February 11, 2020Today while listening to NPR, I heard Steve Inskeep tell the riveting, sometimes humorous story of this book. It makes me shudder to think how closely today's political climate resembles much of what he was saying. I hope to read this soon.
October 6, 2020
Pretty good. To calibrate my rating, I've generally got a four or five-star interest in those blissful instances when technology, communications, biography, and border history converge, so that makes this just a slight disappointment. I didn't really feel like I got to know the contours of John Fremont's soul or the detailed texture of his times.
March 24, 2020
When I started this book I really didn't know what to think. I knew that John Fremont was one of those oft overlooked figures in American History.
John Fremont was the first Republican Candidate for president (without him Lincoln arguably would not have won in 1860. He was crucial in establishing the "Bear Flag Republic". Yes, Captian Fremont was responsible for California---the story is more complex than that, but you cannot study California history withou Fremont. Before that, Fremont was a famous (and oft times failed) explorer of the west (the third tallest mount in Wyoming is named Fremont's Peak).
This is a fun story, but without talking about his wife, Jessie Fremont. The story is only half told. Jessie's dad, John Hart Benton, was possibly one of the 100 most powerful and important senators ever. John Hart Benton was the first Senator to ever serve 5 terms. He was an advocate of the Western Expansion/Manifest Destiny and a very Jacksonian. While a slave owner, be came to oppose slavery. He wanted a son... he got Jessie.
Jessie was a tom-boy who saved John's political career on more than one occassion. Without Jessie, John would have faded into oblivion.
As such, John became one of the few people to ever serve as Governor of two states... California and Arizona. (He was appointed the military governor of California and elected in Arizona.)
John Fremont was the first Republican Candidate for president (without him Lincoln arguably would not have won in 1860. He was crucial in establishing the "Bear Flag Republic". Yes, Captian Fremont was responsible for California---the story is more complex than that, but you cannot study California history withou Fremont. Before that, Fremont was a famous (and oft times failed) explorer of the west (the third tallest mount in Wyoming is named Fremont's Peak).
This is a fun story, but without talking about his wife, Jessie Fremont. The story is only half told. Jessie's dad, John Hart Benton, was possibly one of the 100 most powerful and important senators ever. John Hart Benton was the first Senator to ever serve 5 terms. He was an advocate of the Western Expansion/Manifest Destiny and a very Jacksonian. While a slave owner, be came to oppose slavery. He wanted a son... he got Jessie.
Jessie was a tom-boy who saved John's political career on more than one occassion. Without Jessie, John would have faded into oblivion.
As such, John became one of the few people to ever serve as Governor of two states... California and Arizona. (He was appointed the military governor of California and elected in Arizona.)
December 8, 2019
A perfect union of biography and history
Imperfect Union is the story of John and Jessie Fremont, a couple who had a significant impact in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. It is also the story of the imperfect union among the states themselves and how controversies about slavery and also immigration (sound familiar?) led to the Civil War. It tells of a third “imperfect union” from the period, too, and that was the chasm between the eastern part of the continent and the west. Uniting the continent was the focus of most of John Fremont’s efforts and the goal of his many explorations, as he dreamed of opening the doors to trade with Asia across the Pacific from California.
I have enjoyed listening to Steve Inskeep on NPR’s Morning Edition for many years, but the question in my mind was: can he write? And, very important for a nonfiction book on history, has he done careful research so he can provide the details that will make the people and the era come alive and enable him to make generalizations about the period that will be credible? I am delighted to report that the answer to both questions is a resounding “Yes”. The wealth of primary sources consulted and cited is impressive, and the results are presented very well.
John and Jessie’s story is well-told and gave me a sense of them as people as well as a much better acquaintance with what John contributed to our history. Those more knowledgeable with history than I am might have known that John was the first presidential nominee of the new Republican party, but how many know that he named the San Francisco harbor the Golden Gate? The personal story was to me as interesting as a novel, and I was a bit sorry there was not even more about John and Jessie as a couple, but there is only so much room in one book. Plus it is clear that Inskeep was trying to be true to his sources, and there is only so much that can be inferred about their lives even from personal journals.
The era explored in this book was an exciting one, with technological innovations so radical that it reminds me of our own time. Before the telegraph was invented, for example, it would take many days to learn how other states had voted in an election. Congress did not even establish a single day for the national presidential election until 1845. After Samuel Morse, people in cities could find out in a matter of hours. Inskeep does an excellent job of pointing out these innovations and their effects.
The big political issue during this period, of course, was slavery. Here again the book gives good insights. The issue was more complex than is often presented. For example, there are the “nativists”, who were opposed to many groups like the Irish and Italians who were immigrating in larger numbers. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the nativists were also abolitionists for the same reason they opposed the immigrants: their goal was to protect the livelihood of the working man, which was threatened by slaves.
One thing that is not covered in the book is another of its good points. As I read the book, I could see many parallels between that period and our own. Inskeep does not, however, spell these out. They will be obvious to the discerning reader and actually (in my case anyway) increase the reader’s enjoyment as you perceive them yourself. It also will keep the book from sounded dated in a few years.
Most people have heard of John Fremont, who has mountain peaks and towns named after him, but few people know much about why he was famous. This book will tell you why and give you the bigger picture of the era as well. Whether you are a history buff or not, there is a lot to enjoy and a lot to learn in Imperfect Union.
My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advance review copy of this book.
Imperfect Union is the story of John and Jessie Fremont, a couple who had a significant impact in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. It is also the story of the imperfect union among the states themselves and how controversies about slavery and also immigration (sound familiar?) led to the Civil War. It tells of a third “imperfect union” from the period, too, and that was the chasm between the eastern part of the continent and the west. Uniting the continent was the focus of most of John Fremont’s efforts and the goal of his many explorations, as he dreamed of opening the doors to trade with Asia across the Pacific from California.
I have enjoyed listening to Steve Inskeep on NPR’s Morning Edition for many years, but the question in my mind was: can he write? And, very important for a nonfiction book on history, has he done careful research so he can provide the details that will make the people and the era come alive and enable him to make generalizations about the period that will be credible? I am delighted to report that the answer to both questions is a resounding “Yes”. The wealth of primary sources consulted and cited is impressive, and the results are presented very well.
John and Jessie’s story is well-told and gave me a sense of them as people as well as a much better acquaintance with what John contributed to our history. Those more knowledgeable with history than I am might have known that John was the first presidential nominee of the new Republican party, but how many know that he named the San Francisco harbor the Golden Gate? The personal story was to me as interesting as a novel, and I was a bit sorry there was not even more about John and Jessie as a couple, but there is only so much room in one book. Plus it is clear that Inskeep was trying to be true to his sources, and there is only so much that can be inferred about their lives even from personal journals.
The era explored in this book was an exciting one, with technological innovations so radical that it reminds me of our own time. Before the telegraph was invented, for example, it would take many days to learn how other states had voted in an election. Congress did not even establish a single day for the national presidential election until 1845. After Samuel Morse, people in cities could find out in a matter of hours. Inskeep does an excellent job of pointing out these innovations and their effects.
The big political issue during this period, of course, was slavery. Here again the book gives good insights. The issue was more complex than is often presented. For example, there are the “nativists”, who were opposed to many groups like the Irish and Italians who were immigrating in larger numbers. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the nativists were also abolitionists for the same reason they opposed the immigrants: their goal was to protect the livelihood of the working man, which was threatened by slaves.
One thing that is not covered in the book is another of its good points. As I read the book, I could see many parallels between that period and our own. Inskeep does not, however, spell these out. They will be obvious to the discerning reader and actually (in my case anyway) increase the reader’s enjoyment as you perceive them yourself. It also will keep the book from sounded dated in a few years.
Most people have heard of John Fremont, who has mountain peaks and towns named after him, but few people know much about why he was famous. This book will tell you why and give you the bigger picture of the era as well. Whether you are a history buff or not, there is a lot to enjoy and a lot to learn in Imperfect Union.
My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advance review copy of this book.
November 3, 2020
Engrossing account of the unusual marriage of Jessie and John Frémont about whom little is known today but who were celebrities in their own time. John was a restless (and perhaps a tad mentally unstable) explorer who abandoned his family for substantial stretches of time while recklessly leading ill-conceived expeditions to the west, the details of which are harrowing to say the least. Try to imagine, for example, pushing the men under his command forward over 10,00 feet peaks in waist-deep snow in the dead of winter. Meanwhile, rather than resenting his absences, Jessie, while left behind with her children, boosted her husband's image by feeding stories of his adventures to the press. As time went on there was no doubt that, despite John's exploits out West, Jessie was the stronger and decidedly more sensible of the two.
March 6, 2023
A very entertaining and comprehensive look at John Charles Fremont and his wife Jessie Benton Fremont. The husband has "honorable mention" in many books I have read. This is the first full discussion of him, and I enjoyed every word. Even more interesting is his wife, the daughter of Senator Benton of Missouri. I have read some about her father but really knew nothing about her and this book is a gem of a discussion about this important American.
The book discusses general history of the times of their lives but dives deep into their lives. For an American history buff I am sure glad I was able to read this one.
The book discusses general history of the times of their lives but dives deep into their lives. For an American history buff I am sure glad I was able to read this one.
September 14, 2020
I listen the Steve Inskeep each morning on NPR's Morning Edition, where he is notable for the quality and insight of his reporting. Apparently he also has an aptitude for history. This excellent, highly readable, and well documented book traces the remarkable life of John Fremont as a highly acclaimed explorer and westward expansionist. Innskeep makes the credible case that Fremont's exploits had good timing, as the United States looked westward in the 1840's, but even better fortune in the personality of his young wife, Jessie. She was the daughter of an influential Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, and she had an instinct for promotion and publicity. She used her extensive contacts among government officials, influential advisors and publishers to promote her husband's case, not hesitating to march into the President Polk's office to do the same. Fremont comes across as hapless and negligent, risking his fellow explorers in dangerous exploits and running up unauthorized debts across the country.. He precipitates conflict in California, and faces court martial for refusing to recognize the authority of General Kearny. Throughout it all, Jessie controls the public story line, even as John neglects her desire for a stable home and pursues his peripatetic adventures. He is marvelously famous. Mountains and towns are named after him. He is even nominated for President by the newly established Republican Party. If you think today's election is mired in dirt, there are antecedents (birtherism, mail fraud) in 1856. Innskeep puts it all in context and explores the issues of the time: women's rights, attitudes to slavery, nativism, and westward expansion. This is excellent popular history, pertinent and well told.
March 14, 2020
John C. and Jesse Fremont were the most notable power couple of the mid 19th century. He was "The Pathfinder", the great explorer of the West, and the first Republican presidential candidate. She was his amanuensis, his publicist, his defender, and political advisor, She was so much more than his better half that it was said, that between the two, "she was the better man".
It was unlikely that these two would ever come together. John C. Fremont was largely a self creation. He was born Fremon, the illegitimate son of a French dancing teacher and the daughter of a respectable Virginia family. He grew up in near poverty in Nashville and Charleston South Carolina. Although a city boy and a Southerner, he made his reputation in the wilderness and as being antislavery. His background contributed to him becoming a man of high ambition, boldness and self confidence, but also a man who at crucial points was indecisive and insecure. As with many poor boys who make good, he had the backing of patrons. The diplomat and politician Joel Poinsett arranged for Fremont to receive a commission in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. Later, as Secretary of War, Poinsett sent him on western mapping expeditions. Fremont was mentored by the noted map maker, Charles Nicolet.
When Nicolet's health failed, Fremont was given command of his first exploration in 1840. This helped map out the Oregon Trail. It was on this expedition that he met the mountain man and scout Kit Carson, whose fame has overtaken that of Fremont himself. Fremont gained the attention of leading Washington politicians who were pushing American expansion to the Pacific, especially Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. It was at Benton's house that Fremont met and fell in love with the senator's younger daughter, 16 year old Jessie. They eloped and married, Jessie was 17, Fremont was 28.
Inskeep points out that her androgynous first name was not by chance, Benton had very much wanted his second child to be a boy. Brilliant, strong willed and ambitious, Jesse chafed under the restrictions of gender. She had to adapt to being the partner of the men in her life, first her father then her husband. It was a role that she carried out so well that she became a celebrity in her own right. It was also a role that involved long separations, hardship, slander, loneliness and eventual estrangement from her family.
Her first task was to reconcile her new husband and her father after the elopement. This done, Benton arranged to have the army send Fremont on additional explorations. On his first visit to California and was the first to refer to San Francisco as the Golden Gate. Jessie wrote up his account and helped turn it into a best seller. One that encouraged many Americans, including Brigham Young and the Mormons, to move west. On his return visit in 1846-47 he played a major role in taking of California from Mexico. This escapade ended with his court martial and his resignation of his commission.
After a privately funded expedition that cost the lives of ten of his men, Fremont returned to California during the Gold Rush. There he was reunited with Jesse, who had made the hazardous trip by ship, crossing the Isthmus of Panama. Gold was discovered on land that he had purchased in Northern California, that made them wealthy, but also involved them in many law suits. In 1850, John was elected as one of California's first two senators.
California's admittance as a free state was made possible by the Compromise of 1850. Six years later that Compromise was null. A new Northern, free soil party, the Republican, had taken the place of the Whigs. John was known as being antislavery. Inskeep shows that Jessie was even stronger in her belief that slavery was an evil to both races. Having been raised in a political household, Jessie was a force in the maneuvers that won the John the nomination. She became the first presidential candidate's wife to become part of the campaign. Republicans promoted the Fremonts as a team contrasting their marriage to Democrat James Buchanan, who was a life long bachelor. Democrats answered by raising questions of scandal about the Fremont's marriage and claiming that Fremont was a crypto Catholic. There was a third party in the race, the natavist American or Know Nothings. Strongly opposed to foreigners, immigration and Catholics, the Know Nothings were the X factor in the campaign. Republicans hoped to attract nativist Northerners, Inskeep faults Fremont for taking an antiimmigrant position that seemed incongruous with his personal beliefs. He contrasts this to fellow a Republican, Abraham Lincoln.
Fremont lost the election,but made a strong showing thus establishing the Republicans as a major party. Inskeep agrees with one of Fremont's supporters later judgment, "America was fortunate to have him as a candidate. America was also fortunate not to have him as President."
In 1856, John was 46 and Jessie 32. They had long lives ahead of them, John died in 1890 and Jessie in 1902. Inskeep, for the most part ends his account there. John did command the Western Theater for the Union in 1861. It did not end well. The situation was chaotic, John had never commanded more than a few hundred men, and, as usual, he was too casual when spending the government's money. What caused his removal, however, was his unilateral decision to emancipate all of the slaves in his district. This anticipated President Lincoln's action a year later. But at the time, Lincoln was trying to keep Unionist slave holders loyal. Jesse went to Washington to plead her husband's case, but received a presidential cold shoulder. "You're quite the female politician" Lincoln rebuked her. I wonder if his own experience with Mary Todd had prejudiced him.
The remainder of their lives were spent in failure, debt and separation. John served for a few years as governor of the Arizona Territory, then died alone and penniless in a New York City hotel. Jessie lived out her years in Los Angeles in a house given her by a sympathetic public.
Women led the campaign to raise funds for Jessie's house. Women's suffrage was developing cause at this time. Jessie did not take part in the sufferance movement, but she corresponded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. There was a painful irony in the frequent comments (by men) that if Jessie had been born a man she would have made a great president.
Inskeep, a NPR correspondent, does not have to belabor the parallels to today. He refers to the Fremonts as America's first celebrity couple. America was being bombarded by news, the telegraph, railroads, steamships (and although not mentioned, the mail) meant that events that occurred in Washington DC could be known in New York or Charleston or St. Louis the same day.
Photography made people into celebrities ( at least then people were famous for having done something besides being famous). Every discussion was being heated up, nerves were frayed, conspiracies were seen as abounding. Slavery is no longer an issue, but its repercussions go on. Racism, religious bigotry, xenophobia remain. So does fear of change, economic insecurity and a resulting breakdown of comity in public life. The differences are not exactly regional, but the opposing sides can be pretty well mapped out. Even sexism still exists. If Jessie Benton Fremont were running for president today, as intelligent, accomplished, astute and charming as she was, a good proportion of Americans would be asking how could she abandon her family.
It was unlikely that these two would ever come together. John C. Fremont was largely a self creation. He was born Fremon, the illegitimate son of a French dancing teacher and the daughter of a respectable Virginia family. He grew up in near poverty in Nashville and Charleston South Carolina. Although a city boy and a Southerner, he made his reputation in the wilderness and as being antislavery. His background contributed to him becoming a man of high ambition, boldness and self confidence, but also a man who at crucial points was indecisive and insecure. As with many poor boys who make good, he had the backing of patrons. The diplomat and politician Joel Poinsett arranged for Fremont to receive a commission in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. Later, as Secretary of War, Poinsett sent him on western mapping expeditions. Fremont was mentored by the noted map maker, Charles Nicolet.
When Nicolet's health failed, Fremont was given command of his first exploration in 1840. This helped map out the Oregon Trail. It was on this expedition that he met the mountain man and scout Kit Carson, whose fame has overtaken that of Fremont himself. Fremont gained the attention of leading Washington politicians who were pushing American expansion to the Pacific, especially Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. It was at Benton's house that Fremont met and fell in love with the senator's younger daughter, 16 year old Jessie. They eloped and married, Jessie was 17, Fremont was 28.
Inskeep points out that her androgynous first name was not by chance, Benton had very much wanted his second child to be a boy. Brilliant, strong willed and ambitious, Jesse chafed under the restrictions of gender. She had to adapt to being the partner of the men in her life, first her father then her husband. It was a role that she carried out so well that she became a celebrity in her own right. It was also a role that involved long separations, hardship, slander, loneliness and eventual estrangement from her family.
Her first task was to reconcile her new husband and her father after the elopement. This done, Benton arranged to have the army send Fremont on additional explorations. On his first visit to California and was the first to refer to San Francisco as the Golden Gate. Jessie wrote up his account and helped turn it into a best seller. One that encouraged many Americans, including Brigham Young and the Mormons, to move west. On his return visit in 1846-47 he played a major role in taking of California from Mexico. This escapade ended with his court martial and his resignation of his commission.
After a privately funded expedition that cost the lives of ten of his men, Fremont returned to California during the Gold Rush. There he was reunited with Jesse, who had made the hazardous trip by ship, crossing the Isthmus of Panama. Gold was discovered on land that he had purchased in Northern California, that made them wealthy, but also involved them in many law suits. In 1850, John was elected as one of California's first two senators.
California's admittance as a free state was made possible by the Compromise of 1850. Six years later that Compromise was null. A new Northern, free soil party, the Republican, had taken the place of the Whigs. John was known as being antislavery. Inskeep shows that Jessie was even stronger in her belief that slavery was an evil to both races. Having been raised in a political household, Jessie was a force in the maneuvers that won the John the nomination. She became the first presidential candidate's wife to become part of the campaign. Republicans promoted the Fremonts as a team contrasting their marriage to Democrat James Buchanan, who was a life long bachelor. Democrats answered by raising questions of scandal about the Fremont's marriage and claiming that Fremont was a crypto Catholic. There was a third party in the race, the natavist American or Know Nothings. Strongly opposed to foreigners, immigration and Catholics, the Know Nothings were the X factor in the campaign. Republicans hoped to attract nativist Northerners, Inskeep faults Fremont for taking an antiimmigrant position that seemed incongruous with his personal beliefs. He contrasts this to fellow a Republican, Abraham Lincoln.
Fremont lost the election,but made a strong showing thus establishing the Republicans as a major party. Inskeep agrees with one of Fremont's supporters later judgment, "America was fortunate to have him as a candidate. America was also fortunate not to have him as President."
In 1856, John was 46 and Jessie 32. They had long lives ahead of them, John died in 1890 and Jessie in 1902. Inskeep, for the most part ends his account there. John did command the Western Theater for the Union in 1861. It did not end well. The situation was chaotic, John had never commanded more than a few hundred men, and, as usual, he was too casual when spending the government's money. What caused his removal, however, was his unilateral decision to emancipate all of the slaves in his district. This anticipated President Lincoln's action a year later. But at the time, Lincoln was trying to keep Unionist slave holders loyal. Jesse went to Washington to plead her husband's case, but received a presidential cold shoulder. "You're quite the female politician" Lincoln rebuked her. I wonder if his own experience with Mary Todd had prejudiced him.
The remainder of their lives were spent in failure, debt and separation. John served for a few years as governor of the Arizona Territory, then died alone and penniless in a New York City hotel. Jessie lived out her years in Los Angeles in a house given her by a sympathetic public.
Women led the campaign to raise funds for Jessie's house. Women's suffrage was developing cause at this time. Jessie did not take part in the sufferance movement, but she corresponded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. There was a painful irony in the frequent comments (by men) that if Jessie had been born a man she would have made a great president.
Inskeep, a NPR correspondent, does not have to belabor the parallels to today. He refers to the Fremonts as America's first celebrity couple. America was being bombarded by news, the telegraph, railroads, steamships (and although not mentioned, the mail) meant that events that occurred in Washington DC could be known in New York or Charleston or St. Louis the same day.
Photography made people into celebrities ( at least then people were famous for having done something besides being famous). Every discussion was being heated up, nerves were frayed, conspiracies were seen as abounding. Slavery is no longer an issue, but its repercussions go on. Racism, religious bigotry, xenophobia remain. So does fear of change, economic insecurity and a resulting breakdown of comity in public life. The differences are not exactly regional, but the opposing sides can be pretty well mapped out. Even sexism still exists. If Jessie Benton Fremont were running for president today, as intelligent, accomplished, astute and charming as she was, a good proportion of Americans would be asking how could she abandon her family.
February 5, 2020
The mid-19th Century American push westward was one of the defining moments of American history. Not only did it provide room for expansion for a growing nation, it created the possibility of a land bridge between Europe and Asia, and it ultimately led to the Civil War and the end of slavery, since with expansion came an assault on the delicate balance between slave owning and free states that previously existed.
In the midst of it all, what columnist and editor John L. O’Sullivan coined as America’s Manifest Destiny, were two people you’ve probably never heard of - John and Jessie Fremont. He, an illegitimate son of a mother born to southern aristocracy, and she, the daughter of a famous US Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, came from opposite worlds to be the leading authors, if not the architects, of the great westward expansion.
John was a restless, hard-driving explorer and cartographer who mapped the west from Missouri to Oregon and down to California, the latter illegally since California was still part of Mexico at the time and he did not have permission to even enter the territory. He never gave up and he could be ruthless, earning both praise and contempt from the diverse men, including Kit Carson, who joined his expeditions.
Jessie was the politician, an equally hard-driving woman who refused to take no for an answer and did not hesitate to take the most direct route to what she wanted, for both herself and for John, often rustling feathers along the way, greatly blurring the line that then delineated the commonly accepted realms of women and men at the time.
The marriage was cold but each adored and admired the other. John, however, was too distant and too frequently gone to have pursued much of a home life. Having said that, the characters are not really developed enough for us to make a judgment on such matters. The book turns on events and accomplishments more than the inner souls of the protagonists. Likely, this is, in part, for lack of source material since it would appear the pair was among the least studied of America’s most influential individuals.
John was ultimately nominated to be the presidential candidate of the newly-formed Republican Party in 1856, the same party that Lincoln would take to the White House four years later, in part due to Manifest Destiny and the resulting fact that the Southern slave-holding states no longer held the electoral power to block a candidate who did not fully support their commitment to slavery. John, however, lost to James Buchanan, a childhood neighbor of Jessie, who failed to take any comprehensible stand on the issue of the day.
The issues of the day were, in fact, eerily prescient of the same issues which divide America so profoundly today. Slavery, immigration, and Catholicism divided the country. And since slavery was about both economics and racism, everything, in the end, turned on nativism and the fear of foreigners and their impact on the balance of power in a country wherein only white land-owning males were given the vote by many states at the nation’s birth.
Both John and Jessie were anti-slavery, although John chose a position on the issue during his presidential campaign that didn’t quite align with abolition or the position that Lincoln would ultimately adopt. They were also both strong proponents of religious freedom and against social inequity. It might be a stretch, however, to say that John was a principled man. He was a doer and a pragmatist. He flaunted authority and didn’t always treat others with respect and virtue if they stood in the way of what he wanted.
Jessie was the more ideological of the two. She wrote that her time in the West “rubbed out many little prejudices, and fitted [me] better than any reading could have done to comprehend the necessary differences and equal merits of differing peoples, and that although different, each could be right.”
It’s a quick and entertaining read. The author, to his credit, does not slow down the narrative with an over-abundance of names, dates, and other trivia that bog down so many books of history. As noted, I would have liked a bit more character development but that doesn’t undermine what is there.
Prepare to come away a bit sad, however. America was built on imperialism, through the use of force when necessary. Manifest Destiny was, in many ways, a racist creed, as the Native Americans, the blacks, the Catholics, the Mexicans, and any of the many immigrants of the day, trying to escape tyranny and hardship for a better life, learned first hand.
My favorite quote, however, was again from Jessie. She wrote, “Perhaps the sharpest lesson of life is that we outlast so much-even ourselves-so that one, looking back, might say, ‘When I died the first time…’” As an aging man I know exactly what she means.
In the midst of it all, what columnist and editor John L. O’Sullivan coined as America’s Manifest Destiny, were two people you’ve probably never heard of - John and Jessie Fremont. He, an illegitimate son of a mother born to southern aristocracy, and she, the daughter of a famous US Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, came from opposite worlds to be the leading authors, if not the architects, of the great westward expansion.
John was a restless, hard-driving explorer and cartographer who mapped the west from Missouri to Oregon and down to California, the latter illegally since California was still part of Mexico at the time and he did not have permission to even enter the territory. He never gave up and he could be ruthless, earning both praise and contempt from the diverse men, including Kit Carson, who joined his expeditions.
Jessie was the politician, an equally hard-driving woman who refused to take no for an answer and did not hesitate to take the most direct route to what she wanted, for both herself and for John, often rustling feathers along the way, greatly blurring the line that then delineated the commonly accepted realms of women and men at the time.
The marriage was cold but each adored and admired the other. John, however, was too distant and too frequently gone to have pursued much of a home life. Having said that, the characters are not really developed enough for us to make a judgment on such matters. The book turns on events and accomplishments more than the inner souls of the protagonists. Likely, this is, in part, for lack of source material since it would appear the pair was among the least studied of America’s most influential individuals.
John was ultimately nominated to be the presidential candidate of the newly-formed Republican Party in 1856, the same party that Lincoln would take to the White House four years later, in part due to Manifest Destiny and the resulting fact that the Southern slave-holding states no longer held the electoral power to block a candidate who did not fully support their commitment to slavery. John, however, lost to James Buchanan, a childhood neighbor of Jessie, who failed to take any comprehensible stand on the issue of the day.
The issues of the day were, in fact, eerily prescient of the same issues which divide America so profoundly today. Slavery, immigration, and Catholicism divided the country. And since slavery was about both economics and racism, everything, in the end, turned on nativism and the fear of foreigners and their impact on the balance of power in a country wherein only white land-owning males were given the vote by many states at the nation’s birth.
Both John and Jessie were anti-slavery, although John chose a position on the issue during his presidential campaign that didn’t quite align with abolition or the position that Lincoln would ultimately adopt. They were also both strong proponents of religious freedom and against social inequity. It might be a stretch, however, to say that John was a principled man. He was a doer and a pragmatist. He flaunted authority and didn’t always treat others with respect and virtue if they stood in the way of what he wanted.
Jessie was the more ideological of the two. She wrote that her time in the West “rubbed out many little prejudices, and fitted [me] better than any reading could have done to comprehend the necessary differences and equal merits of differing peoples, and that although different, each could be right.”
It’s a quick and entertaining read. The author, to his credit, does not slow down the narrative with an over-abundance of names, dates, and other trivia that bog down so many books of history. As noted, I would have liked a bit more character development but that doesn’t undermine what is there.
Prepare to come away a bit sad, however. America was built on imperialism, through the use of force when necessary. Manifest Destiny was, in many ways, a racist creed, as the Native Americans, the blacks, the Catholics, the Mexicans, and any of the many immigrants of the day, trying to escape tyranny and hardship for a better life, learned first hand.
My favorite quote, however, was again from Jessie. She wrote, “Perhaps the sharpest lesson of life is that we outlast so much-even ourselves-so that one, looking back, might say, ‘When I died the first time…’” As an aging man I know exactly what she means.
March 20, 2021
Mainly, I decided to read this book because I like Steve Inskeep’s work on NPR. I had no idea how much I would end up enjoying this book. On the one hand, the book is the political story of the man who lost to James Buchanan in the election before Lincoln. The book also tells the story of John Fremont’s five expeditions to the west in years around 1840. Almost everything in the US that bears the Fremont name is named after this John Fremont. But just as important is the story of John’s wife Jessie and her father, the long serving US Senator Thomas Hart Benton. The book is also the antebellum story of how the country grew and how important each new state was in the balance of power between free and slave states. Amazing to think of from today’s perspective. No wonder we still seem screwed up as a nation after all these years. Every page in this book is filled with a surprise all the way to the end with the cameo appearance in the closing pages of artist and sculptor Gutzon Borglum. This is a great American story. Read it and enjoy. You don’t get to hear this story very often. VERY WELL DONE STEVE INSKEEP. Thank you. JIM
PS If someone could get Lin Manuel Miranda to make a musical from this story, I want to invest and watch out A. Ham.
PS If someone could get Lin Manuel Miranda to make a musical from this story, I want to invest and watch out A. Ham.
February 10, 2022
Really interesting book. American politics in the mid 1800s (like 1830s to early 1850s) tends to get viewed only in broad strokes, at least in my experience. It was a pivotal and fascinating time for the US. I knew little about Fremont, despite growing up in a town named after him. He's certainly no hero and made some of the same poor decisions time after time. To say Jesse Benton Fremont was ahead of her time is an understatement. They were a true power couple, and she was an expert at managing PR and creating a narrative around Fremont and his exploits. I listened to the audiobook, and Steve Inskeep of course did a great job. It was like listening to NPR segments. The book felt rushed at the end. I had to pull up the Wikipedia page for the 1856 election to keep everything straight. There were so many players and people switching parties and such that I had a hard time keeping track of it while listening. The physical book might have been better in that instance. And I don't buy the notion that the Fremonts had a hand in the run up to the Civil War. I mean, there were a lot of factors involved and their views and actions were part of the mix, but I think in a more minor way that Inskeep wants to suggest.
February 9, 2020
Fascinating book about the lives of John and Jesse Frémont. I'd read some books about Frémont before, and this one put a slightly different perspective on his life and his legacy. While he was definitely highly involved in westward expansion and exploration, this book seemed to downplay not so much his significance in these areas, but definitely his overall skills and abilities. It was sort of presented almost as if he attained his accomplishments happened in spite of himself rather than due to his abilities. He seemed to make many blunders, but mostly came out on top in spite of his missteps. So, what was reality? This book, or other books I have read about him? Maybe somewhere in the middle? In any case, the book was interesting, and informative, and if you are interested in American History, you will enjoy this book.
May 8, 2020
So glad I read this during Virus Shutdown. I got it from the library March 13, just before it closed. Since I picked up a couple other higher priority books that day, I would've never even started this one in the 3 weeks we normally have. Never did I dream that it would it speak so much to today's history still unfolding. And what to say about Fremont? What psychology? Maybe just one of those humans with a genetic make-up that propelled far distant ancestors to wander out of Africa, explore deep into caves for rituals, or launch tiny boats into vast oceans and along rocky, stormy shorelines. Just wanderers, who needed the next horizon. His explorations in the 1840s were daring and risky, but you have to wonder at his sheer stupidity trying to cross the Colorado Rockies at high elevation in the dead of winter, not once, but twice! Did he not learn? He trusted his compatriots of the trail, including a Black man, a Klamath Indian (Billy Chinook, if you've heard of that lake in Oregon).
Mexicans from Sonora who traveled with him up to California from one of those continental crossings, and were given permission to prospect on his land grant property and scrupulously split the gold with him as agreed, with no supervision, just more honest than most of the 49er Americans. The gold was the Fremont's wealth for some years to come. Or the British-accented immigrants that he rented property to for their business, at a time when anyone with a British accent faced extreme prejudice that viewed all of them as escaped convicts from Australia's penal colony. Those same immigrants saved many of Jessie's belongings for her when their house in San Francisco burned to the ground. It was a period of pro-slavery vs. abolition of slavery, but also anti-immigration from anywhere and anti-Catholicism that was violent. And what about Jessie? She wanted to be a boy, because girls had no freedom-- stay at home, stay quiet, keep out of politics and men's affairs. So she married John and brought him the wealth and political connections of her illustrious father--Senator Thomas Hart Benton. He spent only sporadic time with Jessie, but she used all her will and intelligence to rewrite his military/explorer/Californian career into bestsellers that were instantly popular around the country and to speak out quite vividly on his behalf. She soon was as recognized and popular as he was. He became so popular, he was the newly-formed Republican Party's nominee for President in 1856. But the cracks soon appeared. His past as the son of an unwed mother, doubts about his "Protestant purity," rumors that his father was really French, not American, and he wasn't even a citizen, doubts about his investments and land holdings. Sadly, the Fremont couple were alienated from Jessie's own beloved father. Civil war was just around the corner, and it was all about slavery and deep, irrational prejudices of many Americans north and south. John "made his deal with the devil" to be the candidate, but the more extreme factions of his own party hurt him. The Fremont family's following years were touching and sad. Loved this book and it gave me much to think about "The past isn't really dead. It isn't even past."--William Faulkner
Mexicans from Sonora who traveled with him up to California from one of those continental crossings, and were given permission to prospect on his land grant property and scrupulously split the gold with him as agreed, with no supervision, just more honest than most of the 49er Americans. The gold was the Fremont's wealth for some years to come. Or the British-accented immigrants that he rented property to for their business, at a time when anyone with a British accent faced extreme prejudice that viewed all of them as escaped convicts from Australia's penal colony. Those same immigrants saved many of Jessie's belongings for her when their house in San Francisco burned to the ground. It was a period of pro-slavery vs. abolition of slavery, but also anti-immigration from anywhere and anti-Catholicism that was violent. And what about Jessie? She wanted to be a boy, because girls had no freedom-- stay at home, stay quiet, keep out of politics and men's affairs. So she married John and brought him the wealth and political connections of her illustrious father--Senator Thomas Hart Benton. He spent only sporadic time with Jessie, but she used all her will and intelligence to rewrite his military/explorer/Californian career into bestsellers that were instantly popular around the country and to speak out quite vividly on his behalf. She soon was as recognized and popular as he was. He became so popular, he was the newly-formed Republican Party's nominee for President in 1856. But the cracks soon appeared. His past as the son of an unwed mother, doubts about his "Protestant purity," rumors that his father was really French, not American, and he wasn't even a citizen, doubts about his investments and land holdings. Sadly, the Fremont couple were alienated from Jessie's own beloved father. Civil war was just around the corner, and it was all about slavery and deep, irrational prejudices of many Americans north and south. John "made his deal with the devil" to be the candidate, but the more extreme factions of his own party hurt him. The Fremont family's following years were touching and sad. Loved this book and it gave me much to think about "The past isn't really dead. It isn't even past."--William Faulkner
May 17, 2020
A very influential couple in US history, now largely forgotten, whose surname graces towns and several mountains throughout the American West. John C Fremont's ambition was, unfortunately, not matched by his intellect. Jessie Fremont, his wife, was blessed with a remarkable intellect and political insight, but had to channel her ambition through her husband due to restrictive gender boundries imposed by the society of the times. Together they were more than the sum of their parts, and they started out fast, but burned out before realizing their desired/imagined potential.
September 28, 2020
Interesting dive into the lives of John and Jessie Fremont. In a time when many folks have forgotten (or never learned) that the US was not always so vast, and that Cincinnati was once considered the far western reach, it is fascinating to read about people who not only fell into the push for California almost by accident, but also managed to promote themselves almost to the White House. It is also fascinating to get the political backdrop of the decade and a half or so, leading up to the Civil War, and the machinations regarding slave ownership that went into forming our nation.
August 14, 2021
A compelling and well written tale of one of the most dynamic power couples in American history. Steve Inskeep does a great job a detailing this unique and fiery love affair and how their exploits affected the formation of the United States as we know it. It also details how the Fremonts set the template for the modern day American celebrity. Extensively researched and nicely presented, I would highly recommend "Imperfect Union" to any fan of civil war history, history of westward expansion or the nature of celebrity.
May 16, 2021
3.5. I like history, so many of the books I have read have had John and Jessie Fremont as secondary characters. This made me wonder how John actually survived his explorations as he started so late in the season several times and just made decisions that didn't seem rational. It was an interesting look at celebrity and self-promotion. Fremont's actions in California were a revelation to me. More people should read up on the Fremonts. Maybe that would help them understand some of our current politicians.
April 5, 2020
Having heard Steve Inskeep on NPR, I was not surprised to find this an interesting and well researcher book. Much was already familiar to me, but not all.
April 16, 2020
It was okay but not wonderful.
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February 23, 2021Good read
This a almost worth while read. The begin of the the party of Lincoln is the story of Fremont. This is a must read.
This a almost worth while read. The begin of the the party of Lincoln is the story of Fremont. This is a must read.
March 11, 2020
I liked this at first, but ended up DNF-ing at 43% because it wasn't interesting and life is short.
August 21, 2020
I loved this book. Well written and insightful into the characters and the times. My only complaint was the epilogue. I think there should have been a full chapter on the civil war portion of his life.
December 16, 2023
Fascinating, informative dual biography of John and Jesse Frémont and the settling of the western U.S., especially California. I learned much that was new to me about anti/pro slavery and immigration issues which have essentially continued in some form to the day.
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