Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War (Civil War America)

"Traditional portrayals of politicians in antebellum Washington, D.C., describe a violent and divisive society, full of angry debates and violent duels, a microcosm of the building animosity throughout the country. Yet, in Washington Brotherhood, Rachel Shelden paints a more nuanced portrait of Washington as a less fractious city with a vibrant social and cultural life. Politicians from different parties and sections of the country interacted in a variety of day-to-day activities outside traditional political spaces and came to know one another on a personal level. Shelden shows that this engagement by figures such as Stephen Douglas, John Crittenden, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Stephens had important consequences for how lawmakers dealt with the sectional disputes that bedeviled the country during the 1840s and 1850s--particularly disputes involving slavery in the territories. Shelden uses primary documents--from housing records to personal diaries--to reveal the ways in which this political sociability influenced how laws were made in the antebellum era. Ultimately, this Washington "bubble" explains why so many of these men were unprepared for secession and war when the winter of 1860-61 arrived"-- Provided by publisher Cover Page Washington Brotherhood Copyright Page Dedication Contents Tables and Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction The Washington Fraternity in the Mid-Nineteenth Century Prologue The Politician’s Landscape in Antebellum Washington Chapter One A Perfect Tower of Babel Chapter Two Odd Fellows, Teetotalers, and Young Indians Chapter Three Behind the Curtain Where Great Men Relax Chapter Four An F Street Mess Chapter Five The Most Immoral and Corrupt Place in the Union Chapter Six We Know No Lecompton Here Chapter Seven Like Taking a Last Leave of a Brother Epilogue The Washington Brotherhood in War and Peace Notes Bibliography Index