The Future

This chapter lays out Whig views of the future, reconciling their optimism for the world ahead with their skepticism towards the past.

Society

This chapter investigates the major socializing institutions that help individuals transition from private to public life.

The State

This chapter explains Whig understanding of political power, the rule of law, and the proper scope of state or public action.

The Past

This chapter examines Whig thinking on the past and their view of what should be learned from history, what should be conserved, and what should be jettisoned.

Introduction

This book is about politics, exploring the general outlook of a group of Americans called Whigs. Between 1834 and 1856, the Whigs were one of the two great political parties in the United States, battling their opponents, the Jacksonian Democrats, for office, prestige, power, and ideas. Boasting famous members such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and William Henry Seward, they supported tariffs, banks, internal improvements, moral reform, and public education....

Conclusion

So what happened to the Whigs? The antebellum political party died a slow death from 1845 to 1854. First, President James K. Polk provoked a morally bankrupt war with Mexico in 1845, annexing Texas, and extending the nation’s borders to California’s Pacific coastline along the way. The addition of so much new territory so quickly drove questions about slavery that moderate Whigs and Democrats alike had dodged for thirty years from the abstract into the public square. On the one hand, many Americans (mostly northern and middle western, mostly Whiggish) argued that slavery should not spread to any new states formed from the territories stolen from Mexico. To the contrary, many other Americans (mostly southern, mostly Democratic) argued that slaves were a legitimate form of constitutionally protected property that could not legally be excluded from territory won using the common treasury and national armies. The discovery of gold in California in 1849 only added fuel to the partisan fire because it inspired so many people to head west in search of fortune, hastening that state’s ability to meet the demographic requirements for admission to the Union, and forcing the country at large to grapple with questions for which it was unprepared. Thus, the contest was joined over the central issue that was to dominate all American political life for the next dozen years, namely, the disposition of the territories. For the moment, moderates who desperately longed for a compromise that might stifle the underlying issue of slavery held the majority. However, it is a truism that happens to be true that, in crises of this sort, extremists grow in power, swallowing up all political space in the conciliatory center....

The Individual

The chapter explores Whig thinking on the shaping, obligations, and role of the individual in American politics.