The Conservatives; Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History

by Patrick Allitt

• ISBN13: 9780300118940
• ISBN10: 0300118945
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2009-05-26
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This lively book traces the development of American conservatism from Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Daniel Webster, through Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover, to William F. Buckley, Jr, Ronald Reagan, and William Kristol. Conservatism has assumed a variety of forms, historian Patrick Allitt argues, because it has been chiefly reactive, responding to perceived threats and challenges at different moments in the nation's history. While few Americans described themselves as conservatives before the 1930s, certain groups, beginning with the Federalists in the 1790s, can reasonably be thought of in that way. The book discusses changing ideas about what ought to be conserved, and why. Conservatives sometimes favored but at other times opposed a strong central government, sometimes criticized free-market capitalism but at other times supported it. Some denigrated democracy while others championed it. Core elements, however, have connected thinkers in a specifically American conservative tradition, in particular a skepticism about human equality and fears for the survival of civilization. Allitt brings the story of that tradition to the end of the twentieth century, examining how conservatives rose to dominance during the Cold War. Throughout the book he offers original insights into the connections between the development of conservatism and the larger history of the nation.

Author Biography

Patrick Allitt is Goodrich C. White Professor of History and Director of the Center for Teaching and Curriculum at Emory University. He lives in Atlanta.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The Federalists	p. 6
Southern Conservatism	p. 27
Northern Antebellum Conservatism and the Whigs	p. 46
Conservatism and the Civil War	p. 67
Conservatism After the Civil War	p. 97
Conservatism in the 1920s and 1930s	p. 126
The New Conservatism, 1945-1964	p. 158
The Movement Gains Allies, 1964-1980	p. 191
The Reagan Revolution and the Climax of the Cold War	p. 224
Conservatives After the Cold War, 1989-2001	p. 255
Conclusion	p. 277
Notes	p. 281
Index	p. 315
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