Political history of usa pdf

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Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public.

To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. The Founding Fathers who drafted the United States Constitution in distrusted political parties, popular democracy, centralized government, and a strong executive office.

Yet the country's national politics have historically included all those features. This brief, accessible book explores the nature of the two-party system, key turning points in American political history, representative presidential and congressional elections, struggles to expand the electorate, and critical social protest and third-party movements. The volume emphasizes the continuity of a liberal tradition challenged by partisan divide, war, and periodic economic turmoil.

American Political History: A Very Short Introduction explores the emergence of a democratic political culture within a republican form of government, showing the mobilization and extension of the mass electorate over the lifespan of the country. In a nation characterized by great racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, American democracy has proven extraordinarily durable. Individual parties have risen and fallen, but the dominance of the two-party system persists.

Fierce debates over the meaning of the U. Constitution have created profound divisions within the parties and among voters, but a belief in the importance of constitutional order persists among political leaders and voters. Americans have been deeply divided about the extent of federal power, slavery, the meaning of citizenship, immigration policy, civil rights, and a range of economic, financial, and social policies.

New immigrants, racial minorities, and women have joined the electorate and the debates. But American political history, with its deep social divisions, bellicose rhetoric, and antagonistic partisanship provides valuable lessons about the meaning and viability of democracy in the early 21st century.

These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Excerpt from The Political History of the United States of America This volume is intended to be a Record of the Legislation, and the general Political History of the United States, for the last four years - a period of unexampled activity and of singularly deep interest and importance, whether reference be had to the vast material interests involved in the stupendous struggle, or the precedents, principles, and measures which the Convulsion has produced.

It is further intended to be a Record rather of those salient facts which embody or illustrate principles, than of those which relate to men or parties, and hence have transient and inferior significance.

So abundant have been the materials, that compression has been a necessity. Selection has been made with the purpose of presenting, fully and fairly, the facts as they are, and the agencies by which they came - viewing all else as subordinate. The first Ninety pages are devoted to the period of Secession, and contain a narrative of the successive steps in the movement in each State, in chronological order; also, the elaborate justifying papers of the South Carolina Convention, with counter-selections from other authorities; together with a condensation of the various propositions of Adjustment made in or out of Congress and the vote upon each taken in either body, and the various Official Papers of the day tending to show the relations of the parties, the wrongs complained of, and the remedies proposed.

Closely examining this Record, it is difficult for a candid person to escape the conviction that Adjustment was hopeless - Revolution having been the pre-determined purpose of the reckless men who had obtained control of the State machinery of most of the slaveholding States. This conviction will be strengthened by study of what has since transpired.

It will be remembered that the Thirty-Sixth Congress proposed permanently to settle the security of slavery in the slaveholding States by an amendment of the Constitution, which was adopted by a two-thirds vote in each House. And that it completely disposed of the Territorial feature of the difficulties by agreeing upon, and almost unanimously passing, bills organizing Territories covering the entire area owned by the Government.

The record of these two important historical facts is given within.