Elections are, and always have been, the lifeblood of American
democracy. Often raucous and sharply contentious, sometimes
featuring grand debates about the nation's future, and invariably
full of dramatic moments, elections offer insight into the
character and historical evolution of American politics. America at
the Ballot Box uses the history of presidential elections to
illuminate American political democracy and its development from
the early Republic to the late twentieth century. Some of the
contributions in America at the Ballot Box focus on elections that
resulted in dramatic political change, including Jefferson's defeat
of Adams in 1800, the 1860 election of Lincoln, and Reagan's 1980
landslide victory. Others concentrate on contests whose importance
lies more in the way they illuminate the broad, underlying
processes of political change, such as the corruption controversy
of Cleveland's acrimonious election in 1884 or the advent of
television advertising during the 1952 campaign, when Eisenhower
defeated Stevenson. Another set of essays takes a thematic
approach, exploring the impact of foreign relations, Anglophobia,
and political communications over long periods of electoral time.
Uniting all of the chapters is the common conviction that elections
provide a unique vantage point from which to view the American
political system. Ranging from landmark contests to less
influential victories and defeats, the essays by leading political
historians seek to rehabilitate the historical significance of
presidential elections and integrate them into the broader
evolution of American government, policies, and politics.
Contributors: Brian Balogh, Gareth Davies, Meg Jacobs, Richard R.
John, Kevin M. Kruse, Jeffrey L. Pasley, Andrew Preston, Elizabeth
Sanders, Bruce J. Schulman, Jay Sexton, Adam I. P. Smith, Sean
Wilentz, Julian E. Zelizer.
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