Government and Politics

1. Political Forms
   1. "Herrenvolk" Democracy
      1. Universal White Manhood Suffrage
      2. Elective Offices
      3. Rotation of Offices
   2. State-To-State Variations
      1. Seaboard States--Persistence of Colonial Patterns--Eastern Dominance
      2. The "Old" Southwest--Ultra-Democratic
      3. Similarity to Patterns in the North
2. The People in Power--Planter Rule?
   1. State Legislatures--Majority Slaveholders, but Minority Planters
   2. Local Officials--Substantial Citizens, but Not of Elite
3. Political Style
   1. The Cult of the "Common Man"
   2. Politics as Theater
   3. Obsession With Preserving "Independence"
4. Parties
   1. Whigs
      1. Commercial Orientation
      2. Taste for Positive Government
         1. Making People More Prosperous--Economic Development
         2. Making People More Virtuous--Schools, etc.
   2. Democrats
      1. Upcountry, Rural Orientation
      2. Suspicion of Government, Fear of "Special Privilege"
   3. Common Features--Defending (White Male) Liberty
5. The South and the Union--Contending Views
   1. The Union As Protector--The Slaveholders' Republic
   2. The Union as Threat--The South as Beleaguered minority