Parades and the Politics of the Street

by Newman, Simon P.

• ISBN13: 9780812217247
• ISBN10: 0812217241
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr

Summary

Simon P. Newman vividly evokes the celebrations of America's first national holidays in the years between the ratification of the Constitution and the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson. He demonstrates how, by taking part in the festive culture of the streets, ordinary American men and women were able to play a significant role in forging the political culture of the young nation. The creation of many of the patriotic holidays we still celebrate coincided with the emergence of the first two-party system. With the political songs they sang, the liberty poles they raised, and the partisan badges they wore, Americans of many walks of life helped shape a new national politics destined to replace the regional practices of the colonial era.

Author Biography

Simon P. Newman is Sir Denis Brogan Professor of American Studies at the University of Glasgow and author of Embodied History: The Lives of the Poor in Early Philadelphia, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction: The Significance of Popular Political Culture	1	(10)
Resistance, Revolution, and Nationhood: The Origins of a National Popular Political Culture	11	(33)
The Partisan Politics of Popular Leadership	44	(39)
The Popular Politics of Independence Day	83	(37)
Celebrating the French Revolution	120	(32)
Songs, Signs, and Symbols: The Everyday Discourse of Popular Politics	152	(34)
Conclusion: The Regularization of Popular Political Culture	186	(7)
Abbreviations	193	(2)
Notes	195	(50)
Bibliography	245	(20)
Index	265