The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War [Paperback]

Michael F. Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

Here, Michael F. Holt gives us the only comprehensive history of the Whigs ever written. He offers a panoramic account of the tumultuous antebellum period, a time when a flurry of parties and larger-than-life politicians--Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Henry Clay--struggled for control as the U.S. inched towards secession. It was an era when Americans were passionately involved in politics, when local concerns drove national policy, and when momentous political events--like the Annexation of Texas and the Kansas-Nebraska Act--rocked the country. Amid this contentious political activity, the Whig Party continuously strove to unite North and South, emerging as the nation's last great hope to prevent secession.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Most Americans remember the Whigs as morally uptight New Englanders who provided us with some of our more mediocre presidents. In his exhaustively researched book The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, Michael F. Holt partially rehabilitates the reputation of this once-thriving political party. Founded in 1833, following Andrew Jackson's decimation of the Second Bank of the United States, the Whigs were united in the belief that the federal government was obligated to sponsor the nation's internal development and to promote manufacturing and large-scale agricultural endeavors. In Holt's account, however, proponents of Whiggery were divided on numerous other issues.

The nature of these disagreements amongst party leaders (most notably Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and future presidents such as John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore) take up the majority of space in Holt's 1,200-page account. Instead of relating how general sentiment on major issues (such as territorial expansion and the Compromise of 1850) determined the Whigs' fate, Holt shows how local and statewide political caucuses, party "kingmakers," federal patronage, and special interests created competing factions within the party even before sectionalism fractured cooperation between Northern and Southern wings in 1854. Amidst the diffused levels of power that defined the Federalism of the post-Jacksonian era, Holt concludes that the more popular leaders (such as Taylor and Fillmore) tried to balance competition amongst party factions instead of imposing an ideological "hard line" on sectional issues, a move that alienated many of the party's key ideological supporters. Written in an engaging narrative style with a minimal engagement of abstract theory, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party meticulously reconstructs the byzantine world of 19th-century American politics. --John M. Anderson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1834, opponents of Andrew Jackson organized the Whig Party. In all, four Whigs sat in the White HouseAHarrison, Tyler, Taylor, and FillmoreAwhile leaders such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster failed to capture that prize, contending with Democrats over tariffs, banks, internal improvements, territorial expansion, and, ultimately, slavery until the party's demise in the 1850s. The University of Virginia's Holt, author of Political Parties and American Political Development (LJ 6/1/92), details how great national issues intersected with lesser matters like control of patronage and the ambitions of persons and factions as well as with local and state-level concerns to shape the history of the Whigs. Although only dedicated readers will complete the trek through these 1000 dense pages, this book caps the career of a prominent political historian and will long be a staple for academic library collections in history and political science.ARobert F. Nardini, North Chichester, NH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195161041
• ISBN-13: 978-0195161045
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #844,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Word on Jacksonian Politics, May 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (Hardcover)

It can clearly be said that Michael Holt's book "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" is the last word on the subject. This exhaustive, deeply analytical, and immensely detailed work is the ultimate history of the American Whig party. Yet, it is much more than that: as William Gienapp has written, it is "one of the most important books on nineteenth-century politics ever written." Yes, it is somewhat dry at times and often repetitious. Yes, there are many charts and statistics, and as one Amazon reviewer suggested, these are best ignored. This book is certainly not a quick read and you had better be in love with political history before tackling it. But, the rewards for the patient reader are immense. You will come away from this experience with an understanding of American politics you can gain nowhere else.

The deeply learned Holt ties political history to the changing social, religious, economic, and cultural life of nineteenth-century America and exposes the ethnic conflicts in American life and how they influenced the fortunes of the Whig and Democratic parties. His persistent theme is that the origins and successes of the Whig party depended upon the state of its rivalry with the Democratic party, and once the issues that separated the two parties lost their urgency, the Whig party lost much of its support and its reason for being. A secondary theme is that "politics is local" and that we cannot understand the history of the Whig or the Democratic party without understanding the local and state issues that shaped their rivalry. Real politicians dealing with real local and regional issues and fighting for political patronage set the tone everywhere. Most decisions were not passed down from Washington. As a result, Holt's book roams far and wide analyzing the politcal struggles within the states.

Particularly interesting is the stress politicians put on state and federal patronage as the reward for party loyalty. Sectionalism and slavery, of course, eventually assume center stage, but always within the context of the particular political struggles among the forces within the various states. Holt's examination of the struggle over the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850, and the damage done to the Whig and Democratic parties by the Kansas-Nebraska Act is nothing short of brilliant. Also profound is his analysis of how prohibitionism and the rise of the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant Know Nothing movement sent the Whig party to its grave. These insightful chapters will give any reader a more profound understanding of exactly what was taking place prior to the Civil War in American political life. We have Michael Holt to thank for providing us with a more complex, yet well-rounded picture of the causes leading to civil war. One may be surprised to discover that many of the Whigs in the antebellum South held out hope for a party of national union longer than most of the Whigs in the North. We all owe Michael Holt a debt of gratitude for his summation of a lifetime of learning. "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" will remain an indispensable reference for anyone interested in the politics of antebellum America.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Massive, intricately detailed masterpiece of history....., October 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (Hardcover)

For almost one thousand pages, Michael Holt not only examines the Whig party on a national, state, and local level, but he also presents the entire drama of pre-Civil War America. In fact, it is quite apparent after reading this book that the "causes" of the Civil War, if one even desires so simplistic a pursuit, are far from what conventional history leads us to believe. Yes, sectional differences played a huge role, but the decisions made by individual candidates, poltical conventions, and state leaders also had an effect on future events. As the author points out, the 1840s and 1850s were a far more contentious political era because the parties themselves, rather than states, printed ballots and therefore allowed for a proliferation of diverse parties. Holt also gives us the voices and personalties of the time: Clay, Webster, Harrison, Tyler, Fillmore, Taylor, and Polk. We are given access to intimate letters, diaries, speeches, and backroom conversations. In a nutshell, Holt takes us on a fantastic, yet ultimately sad journey of what is arguably the most decisive moment for our nation; a time in which the irrepressible conflict, still years away, began to have its unshakable hold on the country; when a still young republic, aching under the weight of Executive tyranny, expansionistic fervor, and abolitionism, began its descent into fratricidal madness. However, be warned: due to its length and detail, this book is recommended for avid history buffs only.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well reasoned work of political history., December 23, 2002

By 

Ian McLeod (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (Hardcover)

In the Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, Professor Holt convicingly demonstrates through detailed inspection and analysis of national, state and local elections that the Whigs were always a deeply divided political party whose continued existance as a potent political force was always reliant upon their fervent opposition to the Democratic Party and its policies. For this reason, since Whig success or failure at the polls was always dependent upon Demoratic actions as opposed to those of the Whigs themselves, the Whigs were always at the mercy of their political opponents. Therefore, when tangable differences between the two parties began to deteriorate in the early 1850's, the long exisiting and deep divisions among the Whig rank and file allowed for crippling defections to both the enigmatic American and fledgling Republican parties. Thus, the Second Party System came to an abrupt, and for the country, a calamitous end.