In Era of Experimentation, Daniel Peart challenges the pervasive assumption that the present-day political system, organized around two competing parties, represents the logical fulfillment of participatory democracy. Recent accounts of -the rise of American democracy- between the Revolution and the Civil War applaud political parties for opening up public life to mass participation and making government responsive to the people. Yet this celebratory narrative tells only half of the story.
By exploring American political practices during the early 1820s, a period of...
In Era of Experimentation, Daniel Peart challenges the pervasive assumption that the present-day political system, organized around two com...
In Practicing Democracy, eleven historians challenge conventional narratives of democratization in the early United States, offering new perspectives on the period between the ratification of the Constitution and the outbreak of the Civil War. The essays in this collection address critical themes such as the origins, evolution, and disintegration of party competition, the relationship between political parties and popular participation, and the place that parties occupied within the wider world of United States politics.
In recent years, historians of the early republic have...
In Practicing Democracy, eleven historians challenge conventional narratives of democratization in the early United States, offering new pe...
