The slave power thesis -- Morris's prophecy -- Tallmadge's challenge -- Randolph's pejorative -- Bucktails into Doughfaces -- Bucktails into Rebels -- Pennsylvania and the West -- Collapse of one pillar.
Summary
Richards, "elucidates just how the southern Democratic slaveholders, with the help of some northerners, assumed, protected, and eventually lost a dominance that extended from the White House to the Speaker's chair to the Supreme Court. [He] reveals in a direct and compelling way the importance of slavery in the structure of national politics from the earliest moments of the federal Union through the emergence of the Republican Party."--Cover.