The American statesman: a political history, exhibiting the origin, nature and practical operation of constitutional government in the United States; the rise and progress of parties, the legislation relating to all matters of national importance, with views of distinguished statesmen on questions of foreign and domestic policy
African American resources at Lancaster County Historical Society
The author, Eric Foner, is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, Reconstruction, and historiography, and has been a member of the faculty at the Columbia University Department of History since 1982. [wikipedia]
Contents
Chapters: The world the war made -- Rehearsals for reconstruction -- The meaning of freedom -- Ambiguities of labor -- The failure of presidential reconstruction -- The making of radical reconstruction -- Blueprints for a Republican south -- Reconstruction : political and economic -- The challenge of enforcement -- The reconstruction of the north -- The politics of depression -- Redemption and after
Summary
"Reconstruction chronicles the way in which Americans-black and white-responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It addresses the ways in which the emancipated slaves' quest for economic autonomy and equal citizenship shaped the political agenda of Reconstruction; the remodeling of Southern society and the place of planters, merchants, and small farmers within it; the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations; and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans." [from the publisher]
Includes index. The author was a professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.
Bibliography: p. 281-289.
Summary
Matt Quay was called "the ablest politician this country has ever produced." He served as a United States senator representing Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1904. His career as a Republican Party boss, however, spanned nearly half a century, during which numerous governors and one president owed their election success to his political skills. James A. Kehl was given the first public access to Quay's own papers, and herein presents the inside story of this controversial man who was considered a political Robin Hood for his alleged bribe-taking, misappropriations of funds, and concern for the underprivileged-yet he emerged as the most powerful member of the Republican Party in his state. [from the publisher]
A review of the political conflict in America, from the commencement of the anti-slavery agitation to the close of southern reconstruction; comprising also a resume of the career of Thaddeus Stevens: being a survey of the struggle of parties which destroyed the republic and virtually monarchized its government
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. ... Publisher descri[ption.
A history of the origin of the appellation Keystone State as applied to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania : together with extracts from many authorities relative to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress, July 4th, 1776 ; to which is appended the New Constitution of Pennsylvania with an alphabetical contents
Our first century: being a popular descriptive portraiture of the one hundred great and memorable events of perpetual interest in the history of our country, political, military, mechanical, social, scientific and commercial: embracing also delineations of all the great historic characters celebrated in the annals of the republic; men of heroism, statesmanship, genius, oratory, adventure and philanthropy
