Suchergebnisse

ObjectiveThis study seeks to learn about the development of large, federated voluntary associations in the antebellum era by combining insights from historical work and neopluralist interest group theory. The American Anti‐Slavery Society (AASS) is the case study.MethodsSummary statistics and logistic regression models are used to investigate what variables predict the presence of an AASS local group in a town.ResultsTotal population of a town is the key predictor of AASS group presence across states, though the percentage of people employed in learned professions and the number of primary common schools per capita are also important in select states.ConclusionPopulation itself was the modernizing force behind group formation in the antebellum era, creating contexts conducive to the mobilization of interests.

Abstract:This article evaluates the policy positions of President James Buchanan through the concept of latent opinion, or politicians worrying less about current public opinion and more about what it will be at the next election. Though Buchanan is often viewed as disconnected from the public's opinions, the evidence shows that his positions on Kansas statehood and the acquisition of Cuba (or Mexican territory) were shaped by his perceptions of, and concerns over, what future public opinion would be in 1860. Though Buchanan was ultimately unsuccessful on both fronts, this study reveals that he was not simply unresponsive to public opinion, which is the common interpretation. Instead, the president's policy positions were firmly tied to his views on latent opinion. Thus, the findings add a new dimension to scholarly understandings of James Buchanan's policy priorities while displaying how latent opinion can be a beneficial construct in policy history.

ObjectiveThis study evaluates how the leaders in the American Anti‐Slavery Society (AASS) either aided or hindered the formation of the Liberty Party, thus building on Bawn et al.'s (2012) theory of political party formation.MethodsRegression models are used to study how the presence of AASS organizations affected Liberty Party voting in the early 1840s.ResultsThe findings show that AASS organizations had little to no effect on Liberty voting in New England, where AASS leadership was opposed to the idea of a third party, but that a stronger AASS group presence helped the Liberty Party form outside New England, where leaders were more supportive of an anti‐slavery third party.ConclusionInterest groups do matter for the formation of political parties, but this is dependent on the support provided by, or the opposition put up by, group leaders.

The development of the Republican Party is a significant event in American political history. While scholars describe its formation as a realignment caused by the slavery issue, this article reinterprets this perspective. Focusing on gubernatorial elections in New England from 1840 to the mid-1850s, I present evidence that the rise of the Republican Party in the region was due to a lack of strategic voting coupled with third-party, antislavery voting that did not consistently affect the Whigs across states. A counterfactual argument suggests that Whig elites would have sought to change the nature of party politics and, had the distribution of third-party voting affected the Whigs similarly across states, then the Republicans may not have formed. Thus, the distribution of antislavery, third-party voting was more important than the presence of antislavery sentiment. This finding is important for understanding American party development and how strategic voting fits into the study of US elections.

Theories of political culture have traditionally been based on how the mass public views the role of government, yet scholars have rarely studied this issue. Using American National Election Studies(ANES) data from 1952 to 2008, I track cultural changes in external efficacy, a measure of the public's beliefs about government responsiveness. The aggregate- and individual-level results indicate that external efficacy varied across political cultures until around 1980, when the differences dissipated. These findings should cause scholars to question some of the underlying theoretical basis of political culture, as well as the measurement of external efficacy.

AbstractThis article seeks to uncover reasons behind the relatively high levels of third-party voting found at the state level in the early- to mid-1800s. I argue that third parties needed to develop localized bases of support from which they could expand. By analyzing Liberty Party gubernatorial voting in Vermont during the 1840s, the article shows that the party developed support in particular towns, maintained this over election cycles, and spread the party message to neighboring towns after the creation of a formal party organization. I also find that towns with strong Liberty Party support in the early 1840s continued to be strong supporters of the Free Soil Party in the 1850s. I then present evidence that early bases of Liberty Party support tended to vote at much higher levels for the Republican Party in 1855, indicating that the geographic development of an abolitionist party in the early 1840s helped in the establishment of Republican success in Vermont. These findings highlight the importance of geographic context in the development of third-party voting in the early- to mid-1800s and its connection to the rise of the Republican Party.

Objective. In this study, the "racial threat" and "racial contact" hypotheses are evaluated in relation to voting for the Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the North during the 1840s.Methods. Regression models are used to predict the effect of county‐level black populations on Liberty and Free Soil vote percentages in relation to types of employment.Results. Racial threat occurred in high manufacturing counties, but racial contact/threat emerged in more agricultural counties. The effects vary by party and region of the North.Conclusion. The effects of racial context on political behavior during this era are mixed, much like modern political studies have uncovered.