Description

Book Synopsis

A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents presents a series of original essays exploring our historical understanding of the role and legacy of the eight U.S. presidents who served in the significant period between 1837 and the start of the Civil War in 1861.

  • Explores and evaluates the evolving scholarly reception of Presidents Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan, including their roles, behaviors, triumphs, and failures
  • Represents the first single-volume reference to gather together the historiographic literature on the Antebellum Presidents
  • Brings together original contributions from a team of eminent historians and experts on the American presidency
  • Reveals insights into presidential leadership in the quarter century leading up to the American Civil War
  • Offers fresh perspectives into the largely forgotten men who served during one of the most decisive quarter centuries of United States hist

    Trade Review

    “Provocative and modestly revisionist, this enlightening collection should be the first-choice volume for anyone interested in the political historiography of the antebellum presidents.” (Presidential Studies Quarterly, 28 July 2015)

    “Offers fresh perspectives into the largely forgotten men who served during one of the most decisive quarter centuries of United States history.” (Expofairs.com, 17 December 2014)



    Table of Contents
    Notes on Contributors vii

    Introduction 1
    Joel H. Silbey

    Part I General Themes 5

    1. The Political World of the Antebellum Presidents 7
    Joel H. Silbey

    2. The Expansionist Impulse in Antebellum America 43
    Michael A. Morrison

    3. The Rise of Sectional Tensions: Parties, Slavery, and Abolitionism 65
    Nicole Etcheson

    4. The Antebellum Presidents and Foreign Policy 89
    Jay Sexton

    Part II The Presidents 107

    5. Martin Van Buren as Party Leader and at Andrew Jackson’s Right Hand 109
    M. Philip Lucas

    6. Van Buren and the Economic Collapse of the Late 1830s 131
    Jonathan M. Atkins

    7. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”: William Henry Harrison and the Rise of Popular Politics 155
    William G. Shade

    8. President John Tyler, Henry Clay, and the Whig Party 173
    Edward P. Crapol

    9. James K. Polk and the Democratic Party 195
    M. J. Heale

    10. Polk in Office: Domestic Politics and Policies 221
    Paul H. Bergeron

    11. Polk as a War President 245
    John C. Pinheiro

    12. Polk as a Southern Sectionalist 269
    Michael Todd Landis

    13. Zachary Taylor in Office: Clay, the Whig Party, and the Sectional Crisis 291
    Michael J. Birkner

    14. Millard Fillmore, Whig Politician and Leader of His Party 309
    Damon R. Eubank

    15. President Fillmore and the Taming of Sectional Tensions 327
    Elizabeth R. Varon

    16. Franklin Pierce, Democratic Partisan 345
    Yonatan Eyal

    17. Franklin Pierce, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and the Political Transformation of the Mid-1850s 367
    John F. Kirn, Jr.

    18. James Buchanan: The Early Political Life of the Old Public Functionary 397
    Jean H. Baker

    19. James Buchanan, the Slavocracy, and the Disruption of the Democratic Party 421
    James L. Huston

    20. James Buchanan and the Secession Crisis 447
    John Ashworth

    Index 465

A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents 1837

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    A Hardback by Joel H. Silbey

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      Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 14/02/2014
      ISBN13: 9781444339123, 978-1444339123
      ISBN10: 1444339125

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents presents a series of original essays exploring our historical understanding of the role and legacy of the eight U.S. presidents who served in the significant period between 1837 and the start of the Civil War in 1861.

      • Explores and evaluates the evolving scholarly reception of Presidents Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan, including their roles, behaviors, triumphs, and failures
      • Represents the first single-volume reference to gather together the historiographic literature on the Antebellum Presidents
      • Brings together original contributions from a team of eminent historians and experts on the American presidency
      • Reveals insights into presidential leadership in the quarter century leading up to the American Civil War
      • Offers fresh perspectives into the largely forgotten men who served during one of the most decisive quarter centuries of United States hist

        Trade Review

        “Provocative and modestly revisionist, this enlightening collection should be the first-choice volume for anyone interested in the political historiography of the antebellum presidents.” (Presidential Studies Quarterly, 28 July 2015)

        “Offers fresh perspectives into the largely forgotten men who served during one of the most decisive quarter centuries of United States history.” (Expofairs.com, 17 December 2014)



        Table of Contents
        Notes on Contributors vii

        Introduction 1
        Joel H. Silbey

        Part I General Themes 5

        1. The Political World of the Antebellum Presidents 7
        Joel H. Silbey

        2. The Expansionist Impulse in Antebellum America 43
        Michael A. Morrison

        3. The Rise of Sectional Tensions: Parties, Slavery, and Abolitionism 65
        Nicole Etcheson

        4. The Antebellum Presidents and Foreign Policy 89
        Jay Sexton

        Part II The Presidents 107

        5. Martin Van Buren as Party Leader and at Andrew Jackson’s Right Hand 109
        M. Philip Lucas

        6. Van Buren and the Economic Collapse of the Late 1830s 131
        Jonathan M. Atkins

        7. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”: William Henry Harrison and the Rise of Popular Politics 155
        William G. Shade

        8. President John Tyler, Henry Clay, and the Whig Party 173
        Edward P. Crapol

        9. James K. Polk and the Democratic Party 195
        M. J. Heale

        10. Polk in Office: Domestic Politics and Policies 221
        Paul H. Bergeron

        11. Polk as a War President 245
        John C. Pinheiro

        12. Polk as a Southern Sectionalist 269
        Michael Todd Landis

        13. Zachary Taylor in Office: Clay, the Whig Party, and the Sectional Crisis 291
        Michael J. Birkner

        14. Millard Fillmore, Whig Politician and Leader of His Party 309
        Damon R. Eubank

        15. President Fillmore and the Taming of Sectional Tensions 327
        Elizabeth R. Varon

        16. Franklin Pierce, Democratic Partisan 345
        Yonatan Eyal

        17. Franklin Pierce, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and the Political Transformation of the Mid-1850s 367
        John F. Kirn, Jr.

        18. James Buchanan: The Early Political Life of the Old Public Functionary 397
        Jean H. Baker

        19. James Buchanan, the Slavocracy, and the Disruption of the Democratic Party 421
        James L. Huston

        20. James Buchanan and the Secession Crisis 447
        John Ashworth

        Index 465

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