Presents a biography of James Buchanan's niece who was the White House hostess during her uncle's presidency, helped create the National Gallery of Art, and started the first pediatrics hospital.
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]
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.
Party dynamics and the coming of the Civil War -- The second party system in operation -- Slavery, extension and the second party system, 1843-1848 -- Dynamics of the party system and the compromise of 1850 -- The second party system undermined, 1849-1853 -- Realignment, reorganization, and reform, 1854-1856 -- Slavery, republicanism, and the triumph of the Republican Party -- Politics, slavery, and southern secession.
This article chronicles a conflict in Harrisburg, PA, when open warfare threatened to break out due to a dispute over what party would control the state House of Representatives. State militia was called out and armed with buckshot. No shots were fired however, and the dispute was settled.
The colonies and their churches -- The libertarians: Jefferson and Madison -- The icons: Franklin and Washington -- The philosophies: Adams and Jefferson -- The churches and the people.
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]
