“The American people themselves “are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.”― James Garfield quoted by Jon Grinspan, The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915
In our current setting of extreme political partisanship and divisiveness, this 2021 book by Jon Grinspan is extremely relevant. We often hear people say this is the worst it has been in our country’s history, but Grinspan tells a much different story with this book. After the Civil War, many Americans hoped for a time of great political prosperity as more people were able to vote than ever before and it was a time of “pure democracy.” During a time of much upheaval and uncertainty, people found purpose and community in extremely aggressive and partisan politics. Voters turned out in staggering numbers but there was also much violence and corruption. In an effort to stem the violence and aggression, reformers came up with an idea–limit participation but improve civility. The new ideas were put into action and many voters, particulary blacks and immigrants, were virtually excluded from the voting process. Voter participation numbers plummeted and have never risen to again to the earlier levels, but politics were civil once again and over time, voter
Grinspan tells the story of 19th century American politics through the lens of father-daughter duo William “Pig-Iron” Kelley and Florence “Florie” Kelley. William was a radical congressman from Pennsylvania who served for decades in congress and Florie, his progressive, fiesty daughter made a name for herself as she became involved in child labor reform, women’s suffrage, and the establishment the NAACP. They were intricately involved on the national level when our democracy was in absolute crisis.
This is a fascinating book that I found eye opening on many levels. Did you know that many volunteer fire departments were completely partisan and were used to “help” get certain people to the polls and to keep others away? They would also sometimes attack other volunteer forces (from the other political party) on the way to a fire, even killing them. What?!! Thank goodness we are not to that level yet. This is a hopeful book because as Grinspan reveals, our divisive political system has the ability to reinvent itself and become better, more inclusive, and less rancorous.
Content Advisory: Racism, violence