Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics
ISBN-10
022630728X
ISBN-13
9780226307282
Category
History
Pages
302
Language
English
Published
2016-01-14
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Author
Corey M. Brooks

Description

American politics and society were transformed by the antislavery movement. But as Corey M. Brooks shows, it was the antislavery third parties not the Democrats or Whigs that had the largest and least-understood impact. Third-party abolitionists exploited opportunities to achieve outsized influence and shaping the national debate. Political abolitionists key contribution was the elaboration and dissemination of the notion of the Slave Power the claim that slaveholders wielded disproportionate political power and therefore threatened the liberties and political power of northern whites. By convincing northerners of the Slave Power menace, abolitionists paved the way for broader coalitions, and ultimately for Abraham Lincoln s Republican Party."

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