RUDE REPUBLIC

Altschuler (Changing Channels, 1992) and Blumin (History/Cornell) debunk the supposed “golden era” of American electoral

politics: 1840 through 1860, when voter turnouts approached 80 percent in many elections. Now that turnouts have dropped to record lows and even Op-Ed columnists complain that current political campaigns are painfully tedious, one might be tempted to regard the decades leading up to the Civil War as halcyon days of a flourishing democracy carefully managed by a concerned citizenry. The authors warn against “using the nineteenth century as a club with which to beat subsequent generations,” pointing out that the majority of Americans were then barred from voting by considerations of gender or race. They follow seven representative towns through three election cycles (1840–42, 1850–52, and 1858–60), observing both active participants and bystanders. Even among those who enjoyed the franchise, politics comprised an enormous range of experiences and degrees of involvement, from active partisanship to the carnival atmosphere generated by campaign bonfires and “jubilees” for those on the fringes. The party system effectively mobilized voters through advertising, entertainments, and plain bribery, but it also distanced most citizens from the real decision-making taking place among professional pols (mostly lawyers) in the notorious smoke-filled back rooms. Journalists and reformers of the era criticized the political arena as a sinkhole of vice and crudeness—at best, an unpleasant duty for gentlemen—and cartoonists savagely caricatured repulsive party bosses and uncouth voters. Drawing on party annals, newspaper reports, personal correspondence, and journals, Altschuler and Blumin convincingly demonstrate political indifference, corruption, and cynicism—along with sincere engagement. The authors admirably avoid simplistic pronouncements, but their dense, leaden prose (even by academic standards) and awkward juxtapositions fail to evoke the diverse, contentious period that they document.

A substantial, valuable study. (22 b&w illustrations)