The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War

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Summary: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WHIG PARTY
Review: A MASSIVE WORK WHICH BECAUSE THE AUTHOR FOCUSES ON STATE BY STATE DETAILS BECOMES TEDIOUS AND REPETETIVE. THE FOCUS ON MINUTIA PREVENTS THE READER FROM APPRECIATING THE CONTEXT OF THE WHIG PARTY'S PLACE DURING THAT TURBULANT ERA OF ITS EXISTENCE. PROF HOLT HAS WRITTEN A REFERENCE WORK FOR THE SPECIALIST, BUT FOR THIS GENERALIST NON-PROFESSIONAL WHO PLOWED THROUGH ALL 1200 PAGES, IT WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT

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Summary: A well reasoned work of political history.
Review: In the Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, Professor Holt convicingly demonstrates through detailed inspection and analysis of national, state and local elections that the Whigs were always a deeply divided political party whose continued existance as a potent political force was always reliant upon their fervent opposition to the Democratic Party and its policies. For this reason, since Whig success or failure at the polls was always dependent upon Demoratic actions as opposed to those of the Whigs themselves, the Whigs were always at the mercy of their political opponents. Therefore, when tangable differences between the two parties began to deteriorate in the early 1850's, the long exisiting and deep divisions among the Whig rank and file allowed for crippling defections to both the enigmatic American and fledgling Republican parties. Thus, the Second Party System came to an abrupt, and for the country, a calamitous end.

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Summary: The Definitive Word on Jacksonian Politics
Review: It can clearly be said that Michael Holt's book "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" is the last word on the subject. This exhaustive, deeply analytical, and immensely detailed work is the ultimate history of the American Whig party. Yet, it is much more than that: as William Gienapp has written, it is "one of the most important books on nineteenth-century politics ever written." Yes, it is somewhat dry at times and often repetitious. Yes, there are many charts and statistics, and as one Amazon reviewer suggested, these are best ignored. This book is certainly not a quick read and you had better be in love with political history before tackling it. But, the rewards for the patient reader are immense. You will come away from this experience with an understanding of American politics you can gain nowhere else.

The deeply learned Holt ties political history to the changing social, religious, economic, and cultural life of nineteenth-century America and exposes the ethnic conflicts in American life and how they influenced the fortunes of the Whig and Democratic parties. His persistent theme is that the origins and successes of the Whig party depended upon the state of its rivalry with the Democratic party, and once the issues that separated the two parties lost their urgency, the Whig party lost much of its support and its reason for being. A secondary theme is that "politics is local" and that we cannot understand the history of the Whig or the Democratic party without understanding the local and state issues that shaped their rivalry. Real politicians dealing with real local and regional issues and fighting for political patronage set the tone everywhere. Most decisions were not passed down from Washington. As a result, Holt's book roams far and wide analyzing the politcal struggles within the states.

Particularly interesting is the stress politicians put on state and federal patronage as the reward for party loyalty. Sectionalism and slavery, of course, eventually assume center stage, but always within the context of the particular political struggles among the forces within the various states. Holt's examination of the struggle over the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850, and the damage done to the Whig and Democratic parties by the Kansas-Nebraska Act is nothing short of brilliant. Also profound is his analysis of how prohibitionism and the rise of the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant Know Nothing movement sent the Whig party to its grave. These insightful chapters will give any reader a more profound understanding of exactly what was taking place prior to the Civil War in American political life. We have Michael Holt to thank for providing us with a more complex, yet well-rounded picture of the causes leading to civil war. One may be surprised to discover that many of the Whigs in the antebellum South held out hope for a party of national union longer than most of the Whigs in the North. We all owe Michael Holt a debt of gratitude for his summation of a lifetime of learning. "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" will remain an indispensable reference for anyone interested in the politics of antebellum America.

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Summary: Finally, a worthy analysis of the Fillmore presidency
Review: There is much, much more to "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" than the sections that cover Millard Fillmore. I only cite him as an example of how this excellent work fills holes that had long existed in historical writings on this era. While there are biographies of Fillmore, no work likely to be of more general interest has dealt adequately with his administration. Even works like "The Ordeal of the Union" have rather little to say about this important, enigmatic figure in antebellum politics. Holt's work completely redresses this lack, as it does for many other figures in the Whig party. In addition, its analysis of the interaction of politics at the national and state levels (and occasionally the local and purely personal levels) should serve as an example for all future work on American political history. The more technical material - mostly focusing on election results - should not be too much of a problem. After the first time or two of wading through these sections of limited interest to the non-specialist, you develop a knack for knowing where to skim and where to pay close attention. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the political events preceding the Civil War.

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Summary: Finally, a worthy analysis of the Fillmore presidency
Review: There is much, much more to "The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party" than the sections that cover Millard Fillmore. I only cite him as an example of how this excellent work fills holes that had long existed in historical writings on this era. While there are biographies of Fillmore, no work likely to be of more general interest has dealt adequately with his administration. Even works like "The Ordeal of the Union" have rather little to say about this important, enigmatic figure in antebellum politics. Holt's work completely redresses this lack, as it does for many other figures in the Whig party. In addition, its analysis of the interaction of politics at the national and state levels (and occasionally the local and purely personal levels) should serve as an example for all future work on American political history. The more technical material - mostly focusing on election results - should not be too much of a problem. After the first time or two of wading through these sections of limited interest to the non-specialist, you develop a knack for knowing where to skim and where to pay close attention. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the political events preceding the Civil War.

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Summary: Thank you Mr. Holt
Review: This is a great reference on Antebellum politics in America in those formative years of sectionalism leading up to the war between the states. It picks up with the start of the Jacksonian era in the mid-1820's when the Federalist Party is no more. It is a rather thorough piece of scholarship, which some criticize for being overtly technical (e.g. election statistics.) Its value as a reference is not to be underestimated for those interested in 19th century American History. However, the bulk of the book is a well-researched reference into Whig Party politics, which itself was beset by sectionalist factions.

I also recommend State's Rights and the Union by Forrest McDonald.

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Summary: Micro view of America, but big picture never forgotten
Review: This is certainly one of the greatest books ever written about antebellum U.S. politics. Some may be turned away by the length of Holt's work, and the extreme detail of state elections and issues, but the author's sense of the big picture makes the book a true masterpiece.

My favorite part of the book is part on the election of 1844. Holt notes that if Clay, rather than Polk, carried New York the Whigs would have won. What a fascinating "Might-Have-Been!" Could the sectional strife that tore the nation apart have been avoided if there was no Mexican War and no land grab by the slavocracy? Although Holt doesn't argue it either way, his book is filled with plenty of details that make the reader really think, rather than just digest facts.

It can certainly be said that Dr. Holt has probably forgotten more about the Whig Party than any other human being has ever known!

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Summary: The Definitive Word on Jacksonian Politics
Review: University of Virginia professor Michael Holt devoted 23 years of research to his monumental history of the Whigs--a year longer than the party existed. Still, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party will appeal to hardcore history buffs and political junkies who want to immerse themselves in an age that's gone forever. (Here's a hint, though: Skip trying to make sense of all the charts; they'll only give you a headache, and they won't appear on the final.) Henry Clay and company started the Whig Party in the 1830s to counteract the "executive despotism" of Andrew Jackson. American politics were dominated by white middle-aged men in high collars. Women not only lacked the vote, they desperately needed a good shampoo.

Everything else Holt describes sounds hauntingly familiar. The Democrats learned it was easier to mobilize voters by appealing to their emotions than by boring them with specifics. Wacky splinter parties, much like Ross Perot's, gummed up the works rather than bringing about real political change. Finally, the electorate voted according to the economic winds of the moment and didn't waste a lot of time pondering the great moral questions that threatened to tear the country apart.

The Whigs, in their small, imperfect way, tried to change all that, or at least turn it to their political advantage. When it appeared they couldn't get elected to the White House by putting forward their most qualified candidate (Clay) and sticking to the issues, they nominated a dashing war hero, William Henry Harrison, and replaced substantive political discourse with catchy campaign slogans and plenty of hard cider. Problem was, Tippecanoe caught a nasty cold at the inauguration and died one month to the day after taking office. Another Whig war hero, Zachary Taylor, died after serving less than half of his first term in the White House.

Throughout Holt's book, such disasters typify the Whigs' courtship with power. For every Abraham Lincoln, who began his political career as a Whig congressman from Illinois, there was a Millard Fillmore. Fierce rivalries between party leaders and regional factionalism over such issues as slavery ultimately did the Whigs in, Holt argues. The Whigs' demise, however, did give rise to the Republicans, who under Lincoln would preserve this nation through the greatest constitutional crisis in its history.