Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This book examines the dynamics of the American party system and explores how contemporary American politics was formed. Specifically, it asks how the Democrats could become sufficiently competitive in the American North as to be able to construct a national political majority. It rejects the conventional account, based on 'realignment theory', that between the end of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Revolution, the base level of support for the Democratic party varied greatly from one era to another. Instead, by distinguishing between the 'building blocks' available to the Democrats in coalition formation and the aggregation of those 'blocks' into an actual coalition, the author shows that there was much less variation over time in the available 'blocks' than is usually argued. Neither the economic depression of 1893 nor the New Deal had the impact on the party system that most political scientists claim.

Democratic Party (U.S.) --- History. --- History --- Demokratische Partei (U.S.) --- Partai Demokrat (U.S.) --- Republican Party (U.S. : 1792-1828) --- Social Sciences --- Political Science

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In the decade before the Civil War, Northern Democrats, although they ostensibly represented antislavery and free-state constituencies, made possible the passage of such proslavery legislation as the Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Law of the same year, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the Lecompton Constitution of 1858. In Northern Men with Southern Loyalties, Michael Todd Landis forcefully contends that a full understanding of the Civil War and its causes is impossible without a careful examination of Northern Democrats and their proslavery sentiments and activities. He focuses on a variety of key Democratic politicians, such as Stephen Douglas, William Marcy, and Jesse Bright, to unravel the puzzle of Northern Democratic political allegiance to the South. As congressmen, state party bosses, convention wire-pullers, cabinet officials, and presidents, these men produced the legislation and policies that led to the fragmentation of the party and catastrophic disunion.Through a careful examination of correspondence, speeches, public and private utterances, memoirs, and personal anecdotes, Landis lays bare the desires and designs of Northern Democrats. He ventures into the complex realm of state politics and party mechanics, drawing connections between national events and district and state activity as well as between partisan dynamics and national policy. Northern Democrats had to walk a perilously thin line between loyalty to the Southern party leaders and answering to their free-state constituents. If Northern Democrats sought high office, they would have to cater to the "Slave Power." Yet, if they hoped for election at home, they had to convince voters that they were not mere lackeys of the Southern grandees.

Sectionalism (United States) --- Slavery --- History --- Political aspects --- Democratic Party (U.S.) --- Demokratische Partei (U.S.) --- Partai Demokrat (U.S.) --- Republican Party (U.S. : 1792-1828)

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The phrase 'Young America' connoted territorial and commercial expansion in the antebellum United States. During the years leading up to the Civil War, it permeated various parts of the Democratic party, producing new perspectives in the realms of economics, foreign policy, and constitutionalism. Led by figures such as Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and editor John L. O'Sullivan of New York, Young America Democrats gained power during the late 1840s and early 1850s. They challenged a variety of orthodox Jacksonian assumptions, influencing both the nation's foreign policy and its domestic politics. This 2007 book offers an exclusively political history of Young America's impact on the Democratic Party, complementing existing studies of the literary and cultural dimensions of this group. This close look at the Young America Democracy sheds light on the political realignments of the 1850s and the coming of the Civil War, in addition to showcasing the origins of America's longest existing political party.

Democratic Party (U.S.) --- Demokratische Partei (U.S.) --- Partai Demokrat (U.S.) --- Republican Party (U.S. : 1792-1828) --- History --- United States --- Politics and government --- Economic conditions --- Arts and Humanities

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In the 1930's, fewer than one in one hundred U.S. labor union members were African American. By 1980, the figure was more than one in five. Black and Blue explores the politics and history that led to this dramatic integration of organized labor. In the process, the book tells a broader story about how the Democratic Party unintentionally sowed the seeds of labor's decline. The labor and civil rights movements are the cornerstones of the Democratic Party, but for much of the twentieth century these movements worked independently of one another. Paul Frymer argues that as Democrats passed separate legislation to promote labor rights and racial equality they split the issues of class and race into two sets of institutions, neither of which had enough authority to integrate the labor movement. From this division, the courts became the leading enforcers of workplace civil rights, threatening unions with bankruptcy if they resisted integration. The courts' previously unappreciated power, however, was also a problem: in diversifying unions, judges and lawyers enfeebled them financially, thus democratizing through destruction. Sharply delineating the double-edged sword of state and legal power, Black and Blue chronicles an achievement that was as problematic as it was remarkable, and that demonstrates the deficiencies of race- and class-based understandings of labor, equality, and power in America.

Labor policy --- Labor unions --- African Americans --- Travail --- Syndicats --- Noirs américains --- History --- Civil rights --- Politique gouvernementale --- Histoire --- Droits --- Democratic Party (U.S.) --- United States --- Etats-Unis --- Race relations --- Relations raciales --- Noirs américains --- Demokratische Partei (U.S.) --- Partai Demokrat (U.S.) --- Republican Party (U.S. : 1792-1828) --- 20th century

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In an era of widespread and unsettling change in workplaces, families, and communities, most Americans yearn for a government that will take their side. The contributors to this bold and visionary book argue that America is ready for a progressive politics with substance and bite. They contend that by embarking on a popular progressive course, the Democratic Party can become the moral voice-and practical partner-of all American families striving for a better life.This provocative book is a dialogue among Stanley B. Greenberg, Theda Skocpol, and other well-known thinkers. The contributors reject conservative answers to America's most pressing problems-fraying social ties, hard-pressed family life, sluggish economic growth, and widening gaps between the life circumstances of the most privileged and of everyone else. They discuss a renewal of the nation's social contract, suggest how to revitalize American democracy (not only by reducing the role of big money, but also by reconnecting people to politics), and explore how popular Democrats can fashion broad electoral alliances in the years to come. The Democratic party must undertake a new mission to champion the daily needs of Americans who work for a living, the authors maintain. In this period of change, America needs a government that does more, not less. By opting for a popular progressive course, Democrats can realign national debates and inspire a broad new electoral majority.Contributors:Alan BrinkleyMarc CaplanMichael C. DawsonJeff FauxMarshall GanzStanley B. GreenbergIra KatznelsonTheodore R. MarmorJerry L. MashawKaren M. PagetMiles S. RapoportMichael J. SandelTheda SkocpolPaul StarrMargaret WeirWilliam Julius Wilson

Progressivism (United States politics) --- Government - U.S. --- Law, Politics & Government --- Political Rights - U.S. --- Democratic Party (U.S.) --- United States --- Politics and government --- Economic policy --- Social policy --- Demokratische Partei (U.S.) --- Partai Demokrat (U.S.) --- Republican Party (U.S. : 1792-1828)