Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

There is much, much more to "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" than the sections that cover Millard Fillmore. I only cite him as an example of how this excellent work fills holes that had long existed in historical writings on this era. While there are biographies of Fillmore, no work likely to be of more general interest has dealt adequately with his administration. Even works like "The Ordeal of the Union" have rather little to say about this important, enigmatic figure in antebellum politics. Holt's work completely redresses this lack, as it does for many other figures in the Whig party. In addition, its analysis of the interaction of politics at the national and state levels (and occasionally the local and purely personal levels) should serve as an example for all future work on American political history. The more technical material - mostly focusing on election results - should not be too much of a problem. After the first time or two of wading through these sections of limited interest to the non-specialist, you develop a knack for knowing where to skim and where to pay close attention. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the political events preceding the Civil War.

How did people think in the 19th century? What was the context of politics & political debate? How did politicians & politically-involved citizens jockey for position in the rough & tumble world of public policy? Can we learn lessons about today's political world from bygone days, more than 150 years in the past? This superb volume answers all of the foregoing and much more. I agree with the other reviewer that it is very detailed, not for the casual reader of history, but I am also annoyed by the Kirkus review's last sentence about "hardy" readers. Don't be scared off from the book by that comment. If you are interested in the dynamics of political debate today, this book contains many lessons. If you are interested in 19th century history & politics, particularly of the antebellum period, this book is a "must" for your personal library.

First of all, I finished this book!!!
985 pages is no easy task. :o)
I think this is an excellent study of the American political landscape from 1836-1856.
For me, the book filled in a lot of gaps I had in understanding America during this time period.
Warning: This book is NOT for someone who does not have a very strong interest in this topic.
Thank you Mr. Holt.

This is certainly one of the greatest books ever written about antebellum U.S. politics. Some may be turned away by the length of Holt's work, and the extreme detail of state elections and issues, but the author's sense of the big picture makes the book a true masterpiece.

My favorite part of the book is part on the election of 1844. Holt notes that if Clay, rather than Polk, carried New York the Whigs would have won. What a fascinating "Might-Have-Been!" Could the sectional strife that tore the nation apart have been avoided if there was no Mexican War and no land grab by the slavocracy? Although Holt doesn't argue it either way, his book is filled with plenty of details that make the reader really think, rather than just digest facts.

It can certainly be said that Dr. Holt has probably forgotten more about the Whig Party than any other human being has ever known!

This is a great reference on Antebellum politics in America in those formative years of sectionalism leading up to the war between the states. It picks up with the start of the Jacksonian era in the mid-1820's when the Federalist Party is no more. It is a rather thorough piece of scholarship, which some criticize for being overtly technical (e.g. election statistics.) Its value as a reference is not to be underestimated for those interested in 19th century American History. However, the bulk of the book is a well-researched reference into Whig Party politics, which itself was beset by sectionalist factions.

I also recommend State's Rights and the Union by Forrest McDonald.

I have actually read all of Holt's book, endnotes and all, twice. Anyone with a serious interest in the Civil War era will have to read Dr. Holt's magnificent work. Yes, it is long but it is highly readable. I feel an abridgement would hurt the overall scholarly impact of the work. Many textbooks still claim that the Whig party died as a result of rising sectional tensions, but Holt clearly shows that while northern and southern Whigs were always divided, slavery alone did not kill the party. Other economic, moral, and social issues proved just as divisive. You need to read through the state-by-state treatments to fully understand this. That said, Holt's book can leave no doubt that tensions over slavery were vital to the breakdown of the antebellum political order, which was the real catalyst for the war. The death of the Whig party was an ominous harbinger of secession.

Michael Holt approaches antebellum politics with a mastery, maturity and wisdom that is simply a joy to observe. One thing that should be pointed out when assessing this book is the value that it has for anyone interested in the local and state histories of the antebellum period. It is not only a treasure-chest full of information and brilliant insights, but it also enables the local historian to relate apparently random political events to a larger context. A true magnum opus.