Just finished reading this (nearly 900 pages long) and it was illustrative of the history of the US from just past the Founding up until the critical years just prior to the Civil War. It covered absolutely everything about the United States - from cultural mores to immigration to slavery to politics to the predominant religions of the time. It's a fantastic book and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more. It is also assiduously researched.

(BTW - the title is from Samuel Morse's first telegraph message.)