No Party Now: Politics in the Civil War NorthDuring the Civil War, Northerners fought each other in elections with almost as much zeal as they fought Southern rebels on the battlefield. Yet politicians and voters alike claimed that partisanship was dangerous in a time of national crisis. In No Party Now, Adam I. P. Smith challenges the prevailing view that political processes in the North somehow helped the Union be more stable and effective in the war. Instead, Smith argues, early efforts to suspend party politics collapsed in the face of divisions over slavery and the purpose of the war. At the same time, new contexts for political mobilization, such as the army and the avowedly non-partisan Union Leagues, undermined conventional partisan practices. The administration's supporters soon used the power of anti-party discourse to their advantage by connecting their own antislavery arguments to a powerful nationalist ideology. By the time of the 1864 election they sought to de-legitimize partisan opposition with slogans like "No Party Now But All For Our Country!" No Party Now offers a reinterpretation of Northern wartime politics that challenges the "party period paradigm" in American political history and reveals the many ways in which the unique circumstances of war altered the political calculations and behavior of politicians and voters alike. As Smith shows, beneath the superficial unity lay profound differences about the implications of the war for the kind of nation that the United States was to become. |
From inside the book
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Page vii
... elections throughout the war and that, according to most historians, party politics was a stabilizing influence. Historians agreed that by channeling antiwar dissent into the familiar framework of party competition, elections aided the ...
... elections throughout the war and that, according to most historians, party politics was a stabilizing influence. Historians agreed that by channeling antiwar dissent into the familiar framework of party competition, elections aided the ...
Page 3
... election campaign song, 18641. When. the Civil War began, Northerners—like their southern foes— called for the suspension of party politics. Newspapers warned that unity was imperative and party politicking destructive. “Every man feels ...
... election campaign song, 18641. When. the Civil War began, Northerners—like their southern foes— called for the suspension of party politics. Newspapers warned that unity was imperative and party politicking destructive. “Every man feels ...
Page 4
... elections. Elections were, after all, the symbol of the great American experiment with an egalitarian democracy. Nineteenth-century Americans were proud that their republic was the first nation in the modern world in which white men ...
... elections. Elections were, after all, the symbol of the great American experiment with an egalitarian democracy. Nineteenth-century Americans were proud that their republic was the first nation in the modern world in which white men ...
Page 5
... elections but to delegitimize and destroy their partisan opponents.9 Convinced that partisan opposition could never be ... election, an editorial in Harper's Weekly warned its readers that the contest would decide “the most important ...
... elections but to delegitimize and destroy their partisan opponents.9 Convinced that partisan opposition could never be ... election, an editorial in Harper's Weekly warned its readers that the contest would decide “the most important ...
Page 8
... election and how the Union Party's “anti-party nationalism” finally achieved the feat of making antislavery politics seem conservative and nationalist. Rallying support in the name of the nation and the “loyal, earnest, patriotic ...
... election and how the Union Party's “anti-party nationalism” finally achieved the feat of making antislavery politics seem conservative and nationalist. Rallying support in the name of the nation and the “loyal, earnest, patriotic ...
Contents
3 | |
9 | |
2 The Patriotic Imperative | 25 |
3 The Emancipation Proclamation and the Party System | 49 |
4 The Union Leagues and the Emergence of Antiparty Nationalism | 67 |
5 The Army Loyalty and Dissent | 85 |
6 Slavery Reconstruction and the Union Party | 101 |
7 Emancipation and Antiparty Nationalism in the 1864 Election Campaign | 124 |
Conclusion | 154 |
Notes | 167 |
Bibliography | 223 |
Index | 259 |
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Abraham Lincoln administration American appeal argued army August battle Boston Brooklyn Daily Eagle called campaign candidate cause Charles Chicago citizens City Civil Civil War claim Club Collection Committee Congressional Connecticut conservative Constitution convention crisis culture Daily Democratic Party Democrats Division draft editor effect efforts election electoral emancipation example explained former George Henry History Illinois issue James John July June leaders leading letter Lincoln Papers Loyal loyalty majority March McClellan means meeting military newspaper nominated North Northern November October Ohio opposed opposition organization partisan partisanship patriotic peace Pennsylvania Philadelphia platform political politicians President presidential quoted radical rebel rebellion reported Representatives republic Republican Party rhetoric September Seward slavery Society soldiers South Southern speech tion Union League Union Party Unionists United University Press victory vote voters warned wartime Whigs wrote York