The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 [Paperback]

William E. Gienapp (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195055012 | ISBN-13: 978-0195055016 | Publication Date: March 17, 1988

The 1850s saw in America the breakdown of the Jacksonian party system in the North and the emergence of a new sectional party--the Republicans--that succeeded the Whigs in the nation's two-party system. This monumental work uses demographic, voting, and other statistical analysis as well as the more traditional methods and sources of political history to trace the realignment of American politics in the 1850s and the birth of the Republican party. Gienapp powerfully demonstrates that the organization of the Republican party was a difficult, complex, and lengthy process and explains why, even after an inauspicious beginning, it ultimately became a potent political force. The study also reveals the crucial role of ethnocultural factors in the collapse of the second party system and thoroughly analyzes the struggle between nativism and antislavery for political dominance in the North. The volume concludes with the decisive triumph of the Republican party over the rival American party in the 1856 presidential election. Far-reaching in scope yet detailed in analysis, this is the definitive work on the formation of the Republican party in antebellum America.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[The] definitive political history of the early 1850s....Gienapp offers fresh, new interpretations of Republican beginnings. His chapter on ideology is superb. The bibliography is exhaustive. This is scholarly history at its finest."--Library Journal

"A magnificent achievement. Its sweep is broad, its research astonishingly thorough, its command of detail superb, its analysis compelling. This is absolutely the best book about the formation of the Republican Party ever written."--Michael F. Holt, University of Virginia

"This book provides one of the clearest narratives and analyses of the complex processes by which the American political system was profoundly transformed in the 1850s and the country set on a collision course toward civil war."--James M. McPherson, Princeton University

About the Author

William E. Gienapp is at Harvard University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 582 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 17, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195055012
• ISBN-13: 978-0195055016
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,179,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Researched, but..., February 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (Hardcover)

Gienapp's book, "The Origins of the Republican Party," is well researched but poorly written and hard to follow. In many instances, he fails to define many of the terms and names he uses, seemingly relying on the reader to bring to the table a foreknowledge of events. For example, the political party, the Silver Greys, is slipped in briefly but is never really defined in the whole scheme of things, as well as the "Softshells" and the "Hardshells," leaving the reader to ask: "Who are these people?" He also interchanges many political party names without first informing the reader that they are one and the same. Also, one aspect that is very evident, and unfortunate, is Gienapp's noticeable anti-Catholicism bend, especially in the first two chapters of the book. Lastly, be prepared to forgive many punctuation errors; whoever was the editor/proof reader must have been asleep (a red pen is a must while reading).

Looking beyond these minor things, however, Gienapp definitely put a lot of research into this book, maybe a little too much. If you're looking for a focused, state-by-state, election-by-election, exhaustive (and exhausting) examination of the Republican Party between 1852-1856, then this is your book, but I don't recommend it for light reading.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Seriously Good Serious Book, March 22, 2001

By 

Christopher Griffith (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (Paperback)

Gienapp was my favorite professor as an undergrad at Harvard, but he never assigned this book for any of his classes. With a long flight ahead of me, I finally picked it up. It is so rare to find a weighty "academic" tome written so artfully. The voluminous citations do not detract from the book's readability. For someone interested in antebellum US political history, it is a MUST READ written by a man who, if there were any justice in the world, should be as familiar to the educated layman as such pop historians as Doris Kearns Goodwin and Ken Burns. It almost made me want to go back to grad school!!