"For more than two years the United States wallowed in purposeless humiliation"

Bradford Perkins expresses his acid views so artfully that I can't resist giving you another sample. Here is the beginning of a chapter entitled "America's Humiliation", discussing the early years of the James Madison administration:

"The Lord the Mighty Lord must come to our Assistance, or I fear we are undone as a nation." Thus wailed a Republican leader [identified in a footnote as Nathaniel Macon], not merely a carping Federalist, at the end of February, 1809. But Jehovah did not deign to aid his chosen people. Instead, He sent James Madison as his vice-gerent, and the new President was no Moses. Madison never pointed out any route to a promised land of peace and plenty, and for more than two years the United States wallowed in purposeless humiliation.