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.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [1181]-1201) and index.
Summary
"The political home of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Horace Greeley, and the young Abraham Lincoln, the American Whig Party was represented at every level of American politics - local, state, and federal - in the years before the Civil War, and controlled the White House for eight of the twenty-two years that it existed. Now, in The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, Michael Holt gives us the only comprehensive history of the Whigs ever written - a monumental history covering in rich detail the American political landscape from the Age of Jackson to impending disunion."--BOOK JACKET.
