To govern the devil in hell : the political crisis in territorial Kansas / Pearl T. Ponce.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ponce, Pearl T., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kansas--Politics and government--1854-1861.

Kansas.

Politics and government.

Kansas--History--1854-1861.

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 314 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

DeKalb, IL : NIU Press, [2014]

Summary:

One hundred and fifty years after Kansas was admitted to the Union, we still find ourselves fascinated by the specter of "Bleeding Kansas" and the violence that preceded the larger American Civil War by five years. Although ample attention has been devoted to understanding why territorial violence broke out in Kansas in 1856, of equal concern but less illuminated is the question of why the government, both local and national, allowed the violence to continue unstanched for so long. This question is fundamentally about governance-its existence, exercise, limits, and continuance-and its study has ramifications for understanding both Kansas events and why the American experiment in government failed in 1861. In addition, To Govern the Devil in Hell also sheds light on the nature of democracy, the challenges of implanting it in distant environs, the necessity of cooperation at the various levels of government, and the value of strong leadership. Pearl Ponce uses the prism of governance to investigate what went wrong in territorial Kansas. From the first elections in late 1854 and early 1855, local government was tarnished with cries of illegitimacy that territorial officials could not ameliorate. Soon after, a shadow government was created which further impeded local management of territorial challenges. Ultimately, this book addresses why Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan failed to act; what hindered Congress from stepping into the void; and why and how the lack of effective governance harmed Kansas and later the United States. Book jacket.

Contents:

Jupiter's gift: the creation of Kansas Territory

Territorial politics and the struggle for party supremacy, 1854-1855

Kansas in 1856: the escalating conflict

Congress and the Kansas issue in 1856

The 1856 presidential campaign and Kansas as a party issue

Pledges and principles: Buchanan, Walker, and Kansas in 1857

"The noise of democracy": the struggle over the Lecompton Constitution in Congress and Kansas

Conclusion: "To the stars through difficulty".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780875804866

0875804861

9780875807065

0875807062

OCLC:

870981795