Reason to celebrate -- Young man of Pennsylvania -- A life in politics -- Honors at home and abroad -- A run for the White House -- Conflicts and controversies -- Bleeding Kansas and John Brown -- A nation divided -- Taking the blame -- Glossary -- James Buchanan's life at a glance -- James Buchanan's life and times -- World events -- Understanding James Buchanan and his presidency better.
Summary
A biography of the fifteenth president of the United States, discussing his personal life, education, and political career.
From schoolboy to politician -- The road to the Senate -- Approaching storm -- Moving toward war -- Time line -- Glossary -- The United States government -- Choosing the president -- The White House -- Presidential perks -- Facts.
Immigrant's son -- Love and politics -- To Washington : congressman Buchanan -- Senator Buchanan -- Diplomacy -- The most suitable man for the times -- President Buchanan -- March toward war -- Back to wheatland.
"Auction: session one: Friday, April 20, 2007 at 6 PM, session two: Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 10 AM. Exhibition: Wednesday, April 11 - 9 AM to 4 PM ..."
I. The crisis of the new order. -- American democracy in a revolutionary age -- The Republican interest and the self-created democracy -- The making of Jeffersonian democracy -- Jefferson's two presidencies -- Nationalism and the War of 1812 -- II. Democracy ascendant. -- The era of bad feelings -- Slavery, compromise, and democratic politics -- The politics of moral improvement -- The aristocracy and democracy of America -- The Jackson era: uneasy beginnings -- Radical democracies -- 1832: Jackson's crucial year -- Banks, abolitionists, and the equal rights democracy -- "The republic has degenerated into a democracy" -- The politics of hard times -- Whigs, Democrats, and democracy -- III. Slavery and the crisis of American democracy. -- Whig debacle, Democratic confusion -- Antislavery, annexation, and the advent of young Hickory -- The bitter fruits of Manifest Destiny -- War, slavery, and the American 1848 -- Political truce, uneasy consequences -- The truce collapses -- A nightmare broods over society -- The faith that right makes might -- The Iliad of all our woes.
Summary
Political historian Wilentz traces an arc from the earliest days of the Republic to the opening shots of the Civil War, showing how the elitist young American republic became a rough-and-tumble democracy. He brings to life the era after the American Revolution, when the idea of democracy remained contentious, and Jeffersonians and Federalists clashed over the role of ordinary citizens in government of, by, and for the people. The triumph of Andrew Jackson soon defined this role on the national level, while city democrats, Anti-Masons, fugitive slaves, and a host of others hewed their own local definitions. In these definitions Wilentz recovers the beginnings of a discontent--two starkly opposed democracies, one in the North and another in the South--and the wary balance that lasted until the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked its bloody resolution.--From publisher description.
