No Party Now

Politics in the Civil War North

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Political Parties, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Cover of the book No Party Now by Adam I. P. Smith, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Adam I. P. Smith ISBN: 9780190293345
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: July 27, 2006
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Adam I. P. Smith
ISBN: 9780190293345
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: July 27, 2006
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

During 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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During 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.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Language Teaching Competences by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Flowing Tides by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Mechanisms of Democracy by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Responsible Conduct of Research by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book The Last Segregated Hour by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book French Atlantic World: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Identities and Audiences in the Musical by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Rethinking Ibn 'Arabi by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code:A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Feminism: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Queen Anne by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks by Adam I. P. Smith
Cover of the book Searching for Justice After the Holocaust by Adam I. P. Smith
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy