A political nation : new directions in mid-nineteenth-century American political history / edited by Gary W. Gallagher and Rachel A. Shelden.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gallagher, Gary W.

Shelden, Rachel A., 1981-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Federal government--United States--History--19th century.

Federal government.

Secession--United States--History.

Secession.

States' rights (American politics)--History--19th century.

States' rights (American politics).

History.

United States--Politics and government--1849-1877.

United States.

Politics and government.

United States--Politics and government--1845-1849.

United States--Politics and government--1841-1845.

Political culture--United States--History--19th century.

Political culture.

Political parties--United States--History--19th century.

Political parties.

Physical Description:

viii, 253 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2012.

Summary:

This impressive collection joins the recent outpouring of exciting new work on American politics and political actors in the mid-nineteenth century. For several generations, much of the scholarship on the political history of the period from 1840 to 1877 has carried a theme of failure; after all, politicians in the antebellum years failed to prevent war, and those of the Civil War and Reconstruction failed to take advantage of opportunities to remake the nation. Moving beyond these older debates, the essays in this volume ask new questions about mid-nineteenth-century American politics and politicians. In A Political Nation, the contributors address the dynamics of political parties and factions, illuminate the presence of consensus and conflict in American political life, and analyze elections, voters, and issues. In addition to examining the structures of the United States Congress, state and local governments, and other political organizations, this collection emphasizes political leaders--those who made policy, ran for office, influenced elections, and helped to shape American life from the early years of the Second Party System to the turbulent period of Reconstruction. The book moves chronologically, beginning with an antebellum focus on how political actors behaved within their cultural surroundings. The authors then use the critical role of language, rhetoric, and ideology in mid-nineteenth-century political culture as a lens through which to reevaluate the secession crisis. The collection closes with an examination of cultural and institutional influences on politicians in the Civil War and Reconstruction years. Stressing the role of federalism in understanding American political behavior, A Political Nation underscores the vitality of scholarship on mid-nineteenth-century American politics. Contributors: Erik B. Alexander, University of Tennessee, Knoxville · Jean Harvey Baker, Goucher College · William J. Cooper, Louisiana State University · Daniel W. Crofts, The College of New Jersey · William W. Freehling, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities · Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia · Sean Nalty, University of Virginia · Mark E. Neely Jr., Pennsylvania State University · Rachel A. Shelden, Georgia College and State University · Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State University · J. Mills Thornton, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Contents:

Political culture in antebellum America: Not so strange bedfellows: northern and southern whigs in the Texas annexation controversy, 1844-1845 / Rachel A. Shelden; Apotheosis of a ruffian: the murder of Bill Pool and American political culture / Mark E. Neely Jr.; Public women and partisan politics, 1840-1860 / Jean Harvey Baker

The politics of the secession crisis: The southern opposition and the crisis of the Union / Daniel W. Crofts; Reviving state rights / William W. Freehling; Where was Henry Clay? president-elect Abraham Lincoln and the crisis of the Union, 1860-1861 / William J. Cooper

Parties and federalism in the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction: "Come weal, come woe, I am with the anti-slavery party": federalism and the formation of the Pennsylvania Union Party, 1860-1864 / Sean Nalty; Alabama's Presidential Reconstruction Legislature / J. Mills Thornton; The fate of northern Democrats after the Civil War: another look at the presidential election of 1868 / Erik B. Alexander; Consider the alternatives: reassessing Republican Reconstruction / Brooks D. Simpson.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0813932823

9780813932828

9780813932835

0813932831

OCLC:

761383832

Publisher Number:

99949650966