The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856

ISBN-13: 9780195041002 / Angielski / Twarda / 1987 / 584 str.

William E. Gienapp

Opis

The 1850s saw in America the breakdown of the Jacksonian party system in the North and the emergence of a new sectional party--the Republicans--that succeeded the Whigs in the nation's two-party system. This monumental work uses demographic, voting, and other statistical analysis as well as the more traditional methods and sources of political history to trace the realignment of American politics in the 1850s and the birth of the Republican party. Gienapp powerfully demonstrates that the organization of the Republican party was a difficult, complex, and lengthy process and explains why, even after an inauspicious beginning, it ultimately became a potent political force. The study also reveals the crucial role of ethnocultural factors in the collapse of the second party system and thoroughly analyzes the struggle between nativism and antislavery for political dominance in the North. The volume concludes with the decisive triumph of the Republican party over the rival American party in the 1856 presidential election. Far-reaching in scope yet detailed in analysis, this is the definitive work on the formation of the Republican party in antebellum America.

Recenzje

'extremely impressive contribution to our understanding of the party's creation ... Gienapp has done exemplary work in unravelling the operation of American state and national politics in these years of upheaval ... He has given chronological and analytical clarity to a very confusing period, and has done so with vigour, readability and exhaustive research. His study is one of the most impressive works of scholarship among scores of books published in the last two decades on mid-19th-century American politics.' Times Higher Education Supplement