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The Rise of American Democracy

Jefferson to Lincoln

by Sean Wilentz

ISBN: 0393058204
ISBN-13: 9780393058208
Format: Hardcover

Summary

In this very rich and engaging history, Sean Wilentz recounts the contentious debates among the many conflicting constituencies that vied for power across the new republic as he traces the growth of government of, by, and for the people from the period just after the Founding Fathers up to the Civil War. Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln are the beginning and end points of this lively, jam-packed brew, and Andrew Jackson is shown to have been a central figure in the shaping and defining of American democracy. Wilentz's colorful tapestry draws on politics, religion, legislation, local and national events, political parties, and the issues of slavery, expansion, and war-but mostly on people as they speak up and organize to get what they want. Wilentz provides fresh views of three presidents, deepens our understanding of how North and South took different paths, clarifies terms, and thickens our knowledge of American history. THE RISE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2005.

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Media Reviews

"[B]y viewing history through the prism of democracy, Wilentz often discovers illuminating angles on his subject."

   -- Publishers Weekly

"Drawing on extensive research and a deep immersion in modern scholarship-the footnotes alone provide a road map to the last quarter-century of historical writing-the book is a magisterial synthesis that deserves the attention of anyone interested in the American past."    -- Eric Foner

   -- Nation

"What [Wilentz has] done in THE RISE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, and done exceedingly well, is to trace the play between politicians and political ideas, on the one hand, and the people and popular movements, on the other....Readers may weary at the length of Wilentz's book, but, as a model for integrating social and political history, it's hard to dispute."    -- Jill Lepore

   -- New Yorker

"[A] magnificent chronicle. The life of an idea that, although it is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution, nevertheless slowly elbowed its way into the heart of American life."    -- Malcolm Jones

   -- Newsweek

"This enormous book by Sean Wilentz has been in the works a long time, and the results are nothing less than monumental. [I]t is a tour-de-force of historical compilation and construction that more than justifies all the articles and monographs on antebellum politics written by historians over the past several decades. Wilentz...has drawn extensively on these secondary sources and on his own research. He has brought it all together into a clear and generally readable narrative."    -- Gordon S. Wood

   -- New York Times Book Review

"The writing is about as engaging and lucid as a reader of contemporary history could ask for...."    -- Gideon Lewis-Kraus

"THE RISE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY is a truly magnificent effort. It's size...may deter some readers, but it will surely become a landmark of American historiography. It is elegantly written, imaginatively conceived, and the footnotes alone are worth reading as a guide to the past thirty years of scholarship on pre-Civil War US history."    -- Adam I. P. Smith

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
Published date: 2005
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 6.75 x 10.25 inches
Weight: 3.35 pounds
Pages: 1044

Publisher's Notes

A grand political history in a fresh new style of how the elitist young American republic became a rough-and-tumble democracy. In this magisterial work, Sean Wilentz traces a historical arc from the earliest days of the republic to the opening shots of the Civil War. One of our finest writers of history, Wilentz brings to life the era after the American Revolution, when the idea of democracy remained contentious, and Jeffersonians and Federalists clashed over the role of ordinary citizens in government of, by, and for the people. The triumph of Andrew Jackson soon defined this role on the national level, while city democrats, Anti-Masons, fugitive slaves, and a host of others hewed their own local definitions. In these definitions Wilentz recovers the beginnings of a discontent--two starkly opposed democracies, one in the North and another in the South--and the wary balance that lasted until the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked its bloody resolution.

Other Editions

Hardcover - W W Norton & Co Inc (2005) - from $6.78
Paperback Reprint - W W Norton & Co Inc (2006) - from $10.49

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The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (Qty: 5)

Wilentz, Sean

[ISBN: 0393058204]

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