Thursday\u2019s reading from Sean Wilentz\u2019s The Rise of American Democracy<\/i> covered a wide variety of topics from the years leading up to the American Civil War. I particularly enjoyed Wilentz\u2019s description of the radical divisions within the Democratic Party that formed over conflicting issues. Wilentz writes, \u201cacross the Northeast and West, equivalents of the Radical-Conservative fights split the state Democratic parties, chiefly on banking issues\u201d (Wilentz, 278) into a number of subgroups including Loco-Focos, Barnburners and Hunkers. What amazed me is how these different subgroups could exist within the realms of the same political party while espousing completely different political views. While the Barnburners were committed to abolition (and willing to undermine the democrat party to achieve abolition), the Hunkers largely downplayed the cruelty that many others saw in slavery. I believe that these fundamental disagreements within political parties was one of many key factors in setting the stage for the Civil War, the ultimate manifestation of years of deep-seeded American political differences.<\/p>\n
Wilentz also discussed the disarray of the Whig Party under John Tyler. Whether it was due to Tyler and political rival Henry Clay \u201ctear[ing] each other apart\u201d (Wilentz, 274) or due to the emergence of John C. Calhoun (who planed to capture the Presidency through manipulation of the Democrat Party), the Whigs were clearly falling apart. I found SAFUNDERBURG\u2019s post concerning the reemergence of the Modern Whig Party in Pennsylvania particularly insightful in describing the surprising revival of this notorious political party. I still find it amazing, as a foreigner, whose country pays little acknowledgement to its past political histories, that the Whig Party could be revived. This would not happen in Canada, as people in my home country are not as passionate about the politics of the past or history of our country nearly as much as I\u2019ve found people are in America. I\u2019d be surprised if most people I knew could name the political parties active during Canada\u2019s birth, while in America it is almost considered common knowledge to know your country\u2019s ancestry.<\/p>\n
I also enjoyed Wilentz\u2019s description of the actions put forward by the Liberty Party and other antislavery movements. Wilentz\u2019s description of the Liberty Party\u2019s goal to \u201cdivorce slavery and government akin to the Jacksonians\u2019 divorce of banking and government\u201d (Wilentz, 288) was an analogy that I found interesting. Jackson\u2019s desire to eliminate the federal bank was an attempt to stop rich northerners from claiming total control over America\u2019s finances, while slavery was an issue concerning rich southern plantation owners. Both concern two different geographical areas of the United States, yet the two are both extremely important issues of American politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday\u2019s reading from Sean Wilentz\u2019s The Rise of American Democracy covered a wide variety of topics from the years leading up to the American Civil War. I particularly enjoyed Wilentz\u2019s description of the radical divisions within the Democratic Party that formed over conflicting issues. Wilentz writes, \u201cacross the Northeast and West, equivalents of the Radical-Conservative … <\/p>\n