Jeffrey S. Selinger teaches government at Bowdoin College.

• Chapter 1. Legitimate Party Opposition and the Early American StateChapter 2. Economic Collapse and the Constitutional Construction of Party PoliticsChapter 3. The French Revolutionary Wars and the Ordeal of America's First Party SystemChapter 4. The Second Party System and the Politics of Displacing ConflictChapter 5. Union, Emancipation, and Party Building as Military StrategyChapter 6. Redrawing the Limits of Legitimate Party Opposition: Party Politics and Its Discontents at the Turn of the Twentieth CenturyEpilogue. Party Legitimacy, Then and NowNotesIndexAcknowledgments

"A smart, thoughtful, and interesting book, full of insightful details and empirical findings. Jeffrey S. Selinger moves between American political development and American political thought with ease and intelligence at every turn." (Paul Frymer, Princeton University) "This fine book draws attention to an overlooked problem in the study of the historical development of political parties; namely, that the nature of parties turns in part on the nature of political divisions. Jeffrey Selinger argues persuasively that parties took on greater legitimacy as they came to be perceived as less of a threat of domestic violence or division-indeed, that developing the capacity to stop the threat of partisan violence was itself a developmental project." (Daniel Klinghard, College of the Holy Cross)

Jeffrey S. Selinger teaches government at Bowdoin College.

• Chapter 1. Legitimate Party Opposition and the Early American StateChapter 2. Economic Collapse and the Constitutional Construction of Party PoliticsChapter 3. The French Revolutionary Wars and the Ordeal of America's First Party SystemChapter 4. The Second Party System and the Politics of Displacing ConflictChapter 5. Union, Emancipation, and Party Building as Military StrategyChapter 6. Redrawing the Limits of Legitimate Party Opposition: Party Politics and Its Discontents at the Turn of the Twentieth CenturyEpilogue. Party Legitimacy, Then and NowNotesIndexAcknowledgments

"A smart, thoughtful, and interesting book, full of insightful details and empirical findings. Jeffrey S. Selinger moves between American political development and American political thought with ease and intelligence at every turn." (Paul Frymer, Princeton University) "This fine book draws attention to an overlooked problem in the study of the historical development of political parties; namely, that the nature of parties turns in part on the nature of political divisions. Jeffrey Selinger argues persuasively that parties took on greater legitimacy as they came to be perceived as less of a threat of domestic violence or division-indeed, that developing the capacity to stop the threat of partisan violence was itself a developmental project." (Daniel Klinghard, College of the Holy Cross)

Jeffrey S. Selinger teaches government at Bowdoin College.

• Chapter 1. Legitimate Party Opposition and the Early American StateChapter 2. Economic Collapse and the Constitutional Construction of Party PoliticsChapter 3. The French Revolutionary Wars and the Ordeal of America's First Party SystemChapter 4. The Second Party System and the Politics of Displacing ConflictChapter 5. Union, Emancipation, and Party Building as Military StrategyChapter 6. Redrawing the Limits of Legitimate Party Opposition: Party Politics and Its Discontents at the Turn of the Twentieth CenturyEpilogue. Party Legitimacy, Then and NowNotesIndexAcknowledgments

"A smart, thoughtful, and interesting book, full of insightful details and empirical findings. Jeffrey S. Selinger moves between American political development and American political thought with ease and intelligence at every turn." (Paul Frymer, Princeton University) "This fine book draws attention to an overlooked problem in the study of the historical development of political parties; namely, that the nature of parties turns in part on the nature of political divisions. Jeffrey Selinger argues persuasively that parties took on greater legitimacy as they came to be perceived as less of a threat of domestic violence or division-indeed, that developing the capacity to stop the threat of partisan violence was itself a developmental project." (Daniel Klinghard, College of the Holy Cross)