Frontier democracy : constitutional conventions in the Old Northwest / Silvana R. Siddali, Saint Louis University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Siddali, Silvana R., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional conventions--Northwest, Old--History--19th century.

Constitutional conventions.

Northwest, Old--Politics and government--19th century.

Northwest, Old.

Northwest, Old--Social conditions--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 392 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Frontier Democracy examines the debates over state constitutions in the antebellum Northwest (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) from the 1820s through the 1850s. This is a book about conversations: in particular, the fights and negotiations over the core ideals in the constitutions that brought these frontier communities to life. Silvana R. Siddali argues that the Northwestern debates over representation and citizenship reveal two profound commitments: the first to fair deliberation, and the second to ethical principles based on republicanism, Christianity, and science. Some of these ideas succeeded brilliantly: within forty years, the region became an economic and demographic success story. However, some failed tragically: racial hatred prevailed everywhere in the region, in spite of reformers' passionate arguments for justice, and resulted in disfranchisement and even exclusion for non-white Northwesterners that lasted for generations.

Contents:

Delegates

Constitutions

Laws

Lawmakers

Judges

Land rights

Places

Citizens

Wives

Banks

Epilogue.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 11 Nov 2015).

ISBN:

1-316-46142-4

1-316-46376-1

1-316-46415-6

1-316-46571-3

1-316-46454-7

1-316-46649-3

1-316-11729-4