Description: A leading political historian of antebellum America examines the hard-fought three-way presidential race of 1848. Reveals how Martin Van Buren and his Free Soil party challenged Whigs and Democrats by making slavery a key issue--representing a harbinger of the change that was to come even though they only garnered 10 percent of the vote.
Brief description: Joel H. Silbey is President White Professor of History, Emeritus, at Cornell University and author or editor of more than twenty books, most recently Storm over Texas: The Annexation Controversy and the Road to Civil War.
Review Quotes:
"Eminent political historian Silbey has produced a definitive account of the pivotal U.S. presidential election of 1848 in this briskly written but thoroughly researched book. He provides a thorough introduction to both the issues and the candidates that defined this three-way struggle between Democrats, Whigs, and the emergent Free-Soil coalition. Students and scholars of the antebellum U.S. will benefit greatly from Silbey's accessible yet sophisticated and nuanced study. Highly recommended."--Choice
"A brisk and cogent analysis of an election campaign that many historians have seen as a harbinger of the breakdown of the two-party system and the coming of the Civil War. Eminently useful for scholars of this momentous campaign in particular and students of nineteenth-century political history in general."--Civil War History
"The book has an excellent description of the nature and mechanics of an antebellum presidential election. . . . Silbey rejects the Civil War synthesis that the sectional animosity of the 1848 campaign is central to the political debate and further a sign of impending civil war. . . . for Silbey, party affinity trumps sectionalism in 1848."--Journal of Illinois History
"New in this book is Silbey's convincing refutation of the thesis that 1848 clearly marked the rise of the slavery issue, the beginning of the second party system's demise, and a temporary pause in partisanship. Silbey argues that the election revealed an enduring partisanship among most Americans, with sectionalism taking hold only among elite party leaders. . . . For a political history of how partisanship stifled sectional tensions in 1848, readers can do no better than this fine book."--Journal of American History
"Throughout this account, one gains a sense not only of the flow and contingency of events, but also of the basic structure and practice of politics at the time: the torchlight parades, public rallies, campaign biographies, party newspapers accusatory debates, and fund-raising strategies. Silbey depicts an exuberant mass democracy with ingrained customs and rituals."--Reviews in American History