Parades and the Politics of the Street: Festive Culture in the Early American Republic

Simon P. Newman vividly evokes the celebrations of America's first national holidays in the years between the ratification of the Constitution and the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson. He demonstrates how, by taking part in the festive culture of the streets, ordinary American men and women were able to play a significant role in forging the political culture of the young nation. The creation of many of the patriotic holidays we still celebrate coincide with the emergence of the first two-party system. With the political songs they sang, the liberty poles they raised, and the partisan badges they wore, Americans of many walks of life helped shape a new national politics destined to replace the regional practices of the colonial era.

Author: Simon P. Newman
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 12/14/1999
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780812217247

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2000 pg. 49

About the Author
Simon P. Newman is Sir Denis Brogan Professor of American Studies at the University of Glasgow and author of Embodied History: The Lives of the Poor in Early Philadelphia, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.