Paul Finkelman
Autor(a) de Millard Fillmore
About the Author
Paul Finkelman (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is the Ariel F. Sallows Visiting Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law. His many books include Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson: Millard Fillmore: A Biography; and A March of mostrar mais Liberty: A Constitutional History of the United States, which he co-authored. He is the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present; The Encyclopedia of the New American Nation; and The Encyclopedia of World Slavery. For the Bedford Series in History and Culture he edited A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger, with Related Documents and Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South, A Brief History with Documents. Finkelman has also published numerous scholarly articles on slavery, American legal history, civil rights, civil liberties, and baseball and the law. mostrar menos
Séries
Obras por Paul Finkelman
Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South: A Brief History with Documents (2003) 101 exemplares
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century… (2008) 30 exemplares
Encyclopedia of African American history, 1619-1895 : from the colonial period to the age of Frederick Douglass (2006) 26 exemplares
Milestone Documents of American Leaders: Exploring the Primary Sources of Notable Americans (2009) 17 exemplares
Congress and the Emergence of Sectionalism: From the Missouri Compromise to the Age of Jackson (2008) — Editor — 13 exemplares
A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger: with Related Documents (2010) 13 exemplares
Milestone Documents in American History: Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped America (2008) 12 exemplares
Religion and American Law: An Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) (1999) 9 exemplares
Milestone Documents in African American History: Exploring the Essential Primary Sources (2010) 7 exemplares
In the Shadow of Freedom: The Politics of Slavery in the National Capital (Perspective Hist of Congress 1801-1877) (2011) 5 exemplares
Race and the Constitution : from the Philadelphia Convention to the age of segregation (2010) 5 exemplares
Congress and the People’s Contest: The Conduct of the Civil War (Perspective Hist of Congress 1801-1877) (2018) 4 exemplares
Justice and Legal Change on the Shores of Lake Erie: A History of the United States District Court for the Northern… (2012) 4 exemplares
The Supreme Court [4 volumes]: Controversies, Cases, and Characters from John Jay to John Roberts (2014) 4 exemplares
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century: Volume 2, Grand Tour-Presidency (2001) 3 exemplares
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century: Volume 1, Abolition and Antislavery-Government (2001) 3 exemplares
Civil War Congress and the creation of modern America : a revolution on the home front (2018) 3 exemplares
Encyclopedia of United States Indian Policy and Law Set: Encyclopedia of United States Indian Policy and Law (Two… (2008) 3 exemplares
Free Blacks, Slaves, and Slaveowners in Civil and Criminal Courts: The Pamphlet Literature (Slavery, Race, and the… (1988) 2 exemplares
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century: Volume 3, Printing Technology-Zoos 2 exemplares
Encyclopedia of United States Indian Policy and Law 2 exemplares
Law of Freedom and Bondage: A Casebook (New York University School of Law Series in Legal and Constitutional History) (1986) 1 exemplar
Routledge Revivals: Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006): Volume 3, R - Z (2021) 1 exemplar
Milestone Documents in American History (Vol. 1: 1763 - 1823): Exploring the Primary Sources that Shaped America (2008) 1 exemplar
Associated Works
Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity (1987) — Contribuidor — 59 exemplares
The Bill of Rights: Government Proscribed (Perspectives on the American Revolution) (1997) — Contribuidor — 14 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1949-11-15
- Sexo
- male
- Nacionalidade
- USA
- Educação
- University of Chicago
- Ocupações
- legal historian
college professor - Organizações
- Gratz College
Membros
Críticas
Listas
Founding Father (1)
The Presidents (1)
Prémios
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 68
- Also by
- 2
- Membros
- 1,089
- Popularidade
- #23,589
- Avaliação
- 3.5
- Críticas
- 6
- ISBN
- 172
That Fillmore even became president was unusual. Born to a family of poor farmers in western New York, he turned to a career in the law in search of better prospects. Finkelman sees Fillmore’s social ambitions as key to understanding the impetus behind his political choices, pushing him away from the more egalitarian Democratic Party and towards first the Anti-Masonic Party, then the Whigs. Yet while Fillmore quickly established himself as a Whig leader and enjoyed a successful career as a congressman, Finkelman argues that he was still a relatively obscure figure when internal party machinations made him the Whig Party vice presidential nominee in 1848. Possessing little authority or public standing, Fillmore found himself politically impotent as vice president, as he was repeatedly outmaneuvered by his chief New York rival William H. Seward.
Taylor’s death dramatically transformed Fillmore’s situation. Thrust into the ongoing debate over what became the Compromise of 1850, the new president was forced to make a series of major decisions in a short period of time. Finkelman is less than impressed with Fillmore’s leadership during this period, arguing that he caved far too readily to southern demands, resulting in a settlement that undermined the Whig Party and, ultimately, the nation. Of all the concessions, none was worse than the Fugitive Slave Act, which Finkelman excoriates for its provisions undermining liberty and the due process of law. Efforts to enforce it galvanized resistance in much of the north, to which the Fillmore administration responded with a series of legally questionable prosecutions. Though these efforts failed to win any convictions, they did win support of the southern Whigs, whose support Fillmore wanted to win for his own candidacy for the presidency. Fillmore’s efforts, however, were ultimately crippled by his own indecisiveness about running, resulting in a lengthy retirement interrupted only by a final, failed, run for office as the presidential candidate of the nativist Know-Nothings in 1856.
Concise and well-argued, Finkelman’s biography is a powerful indictment of Fillmore as president. Drawing upon his background as a legal historian, he exposes the flaws of Fillmore’s policies showing how they degraded the country and propelled the nation down the path to war. It serves as a powerful rebuttal to Robert Rayback’s efforts to rehabilitate Fillmore in his [b:Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President|861483|Millard Fillmore Biography of a President|Robert J. Rayback|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387740771l/861483._SY75_.jpg|846913], the standard scholarly biography of the 13th president. Though Finkelman’s book lacks the degree of detail that Rayback’s possesses, it offers a far more convincing assessment of Fillmore’s failings and a better understanding of the role he played in the nation’s descent into civil war. For anyone seeking to understand Fillmore and his role in American history, this is the book to read.… (mais)