In the decade before the Civil War, Northern Democrats, although
they ostensibly represented antislavery and free-state
constituencies, made possible the passage of such proslavery
legislation as the Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Law of the
same year, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the Lecompton
Constitution of 1858. In Northern Men with Southern Loyalties,
Michael Todd Landis forcefully contends that a full understanding
of the Civil War and its causes is impossible without a careful
examination of Northern Democrats and their proslavery sentiments
and activities. He focuses on a variety of key Democratic
politicians, such as Stephen Douglas, William Marcy, and Jesse
Bright, to unravel the puzzle of Northern Democratic political
allegiance to the South. As congressmen, state party bosses,
convention wire-pullers, cabinet officials, and presidents, these
men produced the legislation and policies that led to the
fragmentation of the party and catastrophic disunion.
Through a careful examination of correspondence, speeches,
public and private utterances, memoirs, and personal anecdotes,
Landis lays bare the desires and designs of Northern Democrats. He
ventures into the complex realm of state politics and party
mechanics, drawing connections between national events and district
and state activity as well as between partisan dynamics and
national policy. Northern Democrats had to walk a perilously thin
line between loyalty to the Southern party leaders and answering to
their free-state constituents. If Northern Democrats sought high
office, they would have to cater to the "Slave Power." Yet, if they
hoped for election at home, they had to convince voters that they
were not mere lackeys of the Southern grandees.
General
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