Pursuit of Unity
Description
In Pursuit of Unity, Michael Perman presents a comprehensive analysis of the South’s political history. In the 1800s, the region endured almost continuous political crisis — nullification, secession, Reconstruction, the Populist revolt, and disfranchisement. For most of the twentieth century, the region was dominated by a one-party system, the “Solid South,” that ensured both political unity internally and political influence in Washington. But in both centuries, the South suffered from the noncompetitive, one-party politics that differentiated it from the rest of the country. Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Perman argues, the South’s political distinctiveness has come to an end, as has its pursuit of unity.
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Person
Michael Perman is research professor in the humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has written or edited seven books in American history, including Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908 and Emancipation and Reconstruction. He has also held a Guggenheim Fellowship and won three book prizes.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I. ONE-PARTY DOMINANCE, 1800-1861
- 1 A One-party South: REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY
- The Republicans in Power
- Federalists in the South
- The Virginia Dynasty
- The Missouri Crisis, 1819-1821
- 2 A Two-Party South: WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS
- A System of National Parties
- The Whig Party in the South
- John C. Calhoun's Search for Southern Unity
- 3 A One-Party South Again: DEMOCRATIC ASCENDANCY
- Sectional Issues in National Politics
- Party Differences Disappear
- The Southern Whigs Disappear
- One-Party Politics Returns
- The Secession Crisis
- PART II. NO-PARTY POLITICS, 1861-1865
- 4 Politics without Parties: THE CONFEDERACY
- The Confederate Constitution
- The Confederacy's Political System
- PART III. ONE-PARTY HEGEMONY, 1865-1901
- 5 Party Politics under Assault: RECONSTRUCTION
- The North's Terms
- The South's Response
- Illegitimacy and Insurgency in the Reconstructed South
- Regime Change in the Reconstruction South
- 6 Achieving Democratic Hegemony: THE 1880s
- The Southern Democrats in Power
- The Challenge of the Virginia Readjusters
- 7 Eliminating the Opposition: THE 1890s
- The Populist Insurgency
- Disfranchisement
- A New Electoral System for the South
- PART IV. ONE-PARTY SYSTEM, 1901-1965
- 8 Democrats and Demagogues in the Solid South
- The Solid South as a Political System
- The Southern Demagogue
- 9 Reform and Reaction in the Solid South
- Southern Progressivism
- The South in the Wilson Administration
- Business Progressivism and the ''Benighted South
- 10 The New Deal Challenge to the Solid South
- Thunder from the South: Huey Long
- The South in the New Deal
- The New Deal in the South
- 11 The Liberal Challenge in the 1940s
- The South and the Home Front
- Postwar Repercussions and Dangers
- The South's Widening Veto over Social Policy
- 12 The Solid South under Attack: WHITE DEFIANCE
- The Dixiecrat Revolt
- ''Massive Resistance''
- 13 The Solid South under Attack: BLACK GAINS
- The Campaign for Civil Rights and the Vote
- Securing the Right to Vote
- PART V. FROM ONE PARTY TO TWO, 1965-1994
- 14 Old Responses and New Directions, 1965-1980
- Stoking the White Backlash: George Wallace
- Southern Democrats in the Carter Decade
- The End of the Solid South in Congress
- 15 The Emergence of a Two-Party South since 1980
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- A
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- C
- D
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- I
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- K
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