Description: "The Worlds of James Buchanan and Thaddeus Stevens examines the political interests, relationships, and practices of two of the era's most prominent politicians as well as the political landscapes they inhabited and informed. Both men called Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, their home, and both were bachelors. During the 1850s, James Buchanan tried to keep the Democratic Party alive as the slavery debate divided his peers and the political system. Thaddeus Stevens, meanwhile, as Whig turned Republican, invested in the federal government to encourage economic development and social reform, especially antislavery and Republican Reconstruction"--
Review Quotes: Until recently, James Buchanan and Thaddeus Stevens had only two things in common: they both called Lancaster, Pennsylvania, home, and they both had gotten a bum historical rap. As scholars reclaimed and celebrated Reconstruction's more radical goals of racial equality, Stevens' reputation improved accordingly. On the other hand, Buchanan's approval rating today remains about the same as it was in 1861. It should surprise no one that the two were not friends; they seemed to inhabit two distinct worlds. The original and insightful essays in this collection bring these two worlds together, providing new insight on the politics of sectionalism and Civil War, the friendships and political allegiances of Washington, D.C., and how the world we inhabit today is one both men helped to shape.--Judith Giesburg, author of Sex and the Civil War: Soldiers, Pornography, and the Making of American Morality