Contents

List of illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 The politics of the Constitution, 1787–89

2 Contentious people and factious parties in the Early Republic, 1789–1824

3 The age of democracy, 1816–44

4 The politics of slavery: prelude to the Civil War, 1844–60

5 Politics in war and Reconstruction, 1861–76

6 Gilded Age frustration and the Progressive response, 1877–1918

7 Affluence, depression, and world war, 1920–45

8 Early Cold War politics, 1945–74

9 Tumultuous politics continued, 1974–present

References

Further reading

Index