Party Games : Getting, Keeping, and Using Power in Gilded Age Politics.

By: Summers, Mark WahlgrenMaterial type: TextTextPublisher: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 2004Copyright date: ©2004Description: 1 online resource (368 pages)Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9780807863756Subject(s): Political corruption -- United States -- History -- 19th century | Political culture -- United States -- History -- 19th century | Political parties -- United States -- History -- 19th century | Power (Social sciences) -- United States -- History -- 19th century | United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1900Genre/Form: Electronic books.Additional physical formats: Print version:: Party Games : Getting, Keeping, and Using Power in Gilded Age PoliticsDDC classification: 324.097309034 | 324/.0973/09034 LOC classification: E661 -- .S965 2004ebOnline resources: Click to View
Contents:
Intro -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface. The Dog That Didn't Bark at Night -- Notes -- Part I. Our Friend the Enemy -- 1. A Typical Year -- Notes -- 2. What Else Could He Have Put into H--l? -- Notes -- 3. Politics Is Only War without the Bayonets -- Notes -- 4. The Demon Lovers -- Notes -- Part II. Party Tricks -- 5. The Press of Public Business -- Notes -- 6. The Best Majority Money Can Buy -- Notes -- 7. An Eye on the Maine Chance -- Notes -- 8. Anything, Lord, but Milwaukee!: Malapportionment and Gerrymandering -- Notes -- Part III. Policy-The Golden Rule? -- 9. Purse'n'All Influence -- Notes -- 10. The (Round) House of Legislation -- Notes -- 11. Class Warfare, Mainstream-Party Style -- Notes -- Part IV. Rounding off the Two and a Half Party System -- 12. The Treason of the Ineffectuals -- Notes -- 13. A Little Knight Music -- Notes -- 14. The Fix Is In -- Notes -- 15. Dishing the Pops -- Notes -- Coda. Parties to a Conspiracy -- Notes -- Notes -- Abbreviations -- Bibliography -- Index -- A-B -- C-E -- F-G -- H-L -- M-N -- O-R -- S-V -- W-Y.
Summary: Much of late-nineteenth-century American politics was parade and pageant. Voters crowded the polls, and their votes made a real difference on policy. In Party Games, Mark Wahlgren Summers tells the full story and admires much of the political carnival, but he adds a cautionary note about the dark recesses: vote-buying, election-rigging, blackguarding, news suppression, and violence. Summers also points out that hardball politics and third-party challenges helped make the parties more responsive. Ballyhoo did not replace government action. In order to maintain power, major parties not only rigged the system but also gave dissidents part of what they wanted. The persistence of a two-party system, Summers concludes, resulted from its adaptability, as well as its ruthlessness. Even the reform of political abuses was shaped to fit the needs of the real owners of the political system--the politicians themselves.
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Intro -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface. The Dog That Didn't Bark at Night -- Notes -- Part I. Our Friend the Enemy -- 1. A Typical Year -- Notes -- 2. What Else Could He Have Put into H--l? -- Notes -- 3. Politics Is Only War without the Bayonets -- Notes -- 4. The Demon Lovers -- Notes -- Part II. Party Tricks -- 5. The Press of Public Business -- Notes -- 6. The Best Majority Money Can Buy -- Notes -- 7. An Eye on the Maine Chance -- Notes -- 8. Anything, Lord, but Milwaukee!: Malapportionment and Gerrymandering -- Notes -- Part III. Policy-The Golden Rule? -- 9. Purse'n'All Influence -- Notes -- 10. The (Round) House of Legislation -- Notes -- 11. Class Warfare, Mainstream-Party Style -- Notes -- Part IV. Rounding off the Two and a Half Party System -- 12. The Treason of the Ineffectuals -- Notes -- 13. A Little Knight Music -- Notes -- 14. The Fix Is In -- Notes -- 15. Dishing the Pops -- Notes -- Coda. Parties to a Conspiracy -- Notes -- Notes -- Abbreviations -- Bibliography -- Index -- A-B -- C-E -- F-G -- H-L -- M-N -- O-R -- S-V -- W-Y.

Much of late-nineteenth-century American politics was parade and pageant. Voters crowded the polls, and their votes made a real difference on policy. In Party Games, Mark Wahlgren Summers tells the full story and admires much of the political carnival, but he adds a cautionary note about the dark recesses: vote-buying, election-rigging, blackguarding, news suppression, and violence. Summers also points out that hardball politics and third-party challenges helped make the parties more responsive. Ballyhoo did not replace government action. In order to maintain power, major parties not only rigged the system but also gave dissidents part of what they wanted. The persistence of a two-party system, Summers concludes, resulted from its adaptability, as well as its ruthlessness. Even the reform of political abuses was shaped to fit the needs of the real owners of the political system--the politicians themselves.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

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