Dreams of a more perfect union / Rogan Kersh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kersh, Rogan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--United States--History--18th century.

Nationalism.

Nationalism--United States--History--19th century.

United States--Politics and government--18th century.

United States.

United States--Politics and government--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (372 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In a brilliantly conceived and elegantly written book, Rogan Kersh investigates the idea of national union in the United States. For much of the period between the colonial era and the late nineteenth century, he shows, "union" was the principal rhetorical means by which Americans expressed shared ideals and a common identity without invoking strong nationalism or centralized governance. Through his exploration of how Americans once succeeded in uniting a diverse and fragmented citizenry, Kersh revives a long-forgotten source of U.S. national identity. Why and how did Americans perceive themselves as one people from the early history of the republic? How did African Americans and others at the margins of U.S. civic culture apply this concept of union? Why did the term disappear from vernacular after the 1880's? In his search for answers, Kersh employs a wide range of methods, including political-theory analysis of writings by James Madison, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln and empirical analysis drawing on his own extensive database of American newspapers. The author's findings are persuasive-and often surprising. One intriguing development, for instance, was a strong resurgence of union feelings among Southerners-including prominent former secessionists-after the Civil War. With its fascinating and novel approach, Dreams of a More Perfect Union offers valuable insights about American political history, especially the rise of nationalism and federalism. Equally important, the author's close retracing of the religious, institutional, and other themes coloring the development of unionist thought unveils new knowledge about the origination and transmittal of ideas in a polity.

Contents:

The rhetorical genesis of American political union

A theory of political union emerges, 1780s-1820s

National unity and nation-building, 1820s-1850s

Conceiving a more moral union, 1850s-1865

The terms of reunion

The ends of union, 1877-1898.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-349) and index.

ISBN:

0-8014-7471-X

OCLC:

70763792