A Perfect War Of Politics Parties Politicians And Democracy In Louisiana 18241861 John M Sacher by John M. Sacher 9780807128480, 0807128481 instant download after payment.

Though antebellum Louisiana shared the rest of the South's commitment to slavery and cotton, the presence of a substantial sugarcane industry, a large Creole and Catholic population, numerous foreign and northern immigrants, and the immense city of New Orleans made it perhaps the most unsouthern of southern states. Yet, Louisiana promptly joined its neighbors in seceding from the Union in early 1861. In an attempt to understand why, John M. Sacher offers the first comprehensive study of the state's antebellum political parties and their interaction with the electorate. It is a complex, colorful story, one long overdue to be told in its entirety.

From 1824 to 1861, Louisiana moved from a political system based on personality and ethnicity to a distinct two-party system, with Democrats competing first against Whigs, then Know Nothings, and finally only other Deomcrats. Sacher's fast-paced narrative describes the ever-changing issues facing the parties and explains how the presence of slavery shaped the state's political landscape. He shows that although civic participation expanded beyond the elite, Louisiana remained a "white men's democracy."

The protection of white men's liberty, Sacher contends, was the common thread running throughout antebellum Louisiana, and indeed southern, politics. Ultimately, he argues, this obsession with defending independence led Louisiana's politicians to join their southern brethren in seceding from the Union.

Sacher's welcome study provides a fresh, grass-roots perspective on the political causes of the Civil War and confirms the dominant role regional politics played in antebellum Louisiana.