Henry W. Blair's Campaign to Reform America: From the Civil War to the U.S. Senate

by Gordon B. McKinney

Overview

In the years immediately following the Civil War, the nation's leaders called desperately for reform as they struggled to rebuild a society scarred by death and mass destruction. Recognizing America's need for enlightened leadership, Republican senator Henry Blair (1834-1920) of New Hampshire embarked on an ambitious crusade to enact dramatic progressive changes. Henry W. Blair's Campaign to Reform America follows Blair's remarkable political career. At the heart of his efforts was a push to im

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813140872
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gordon B. McKinney is professor emeritus of history and former director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College. He is the author of numerous books, including Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865–1900 and Zeb Vance: North Carolina's Civil War Governor and Gilded Age Political Leader.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 1

1 Early Years 7

2 Colonel 17

3 Apprentice Lawyer and Politician 31

4 Congressman 53

5 Origin of the Education Bill 77

6 A Sense of Place 101

7 Debate and Defeat of the Education Bill 113

8 General Reformer 131

9 Foreign Policy 151

10 New Hampshire Politics 165

11 Later Years 189

Notes 201

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

"Gordon B. McKinney's fully contextualized, engagingly written, and richly documented study of Henry W. Blair, Senate Republican and New England reformer, brings to life the crucial nature of the 1880s and the era of national politics following Reconstruction. Skillfully combining political history with a biography of a long-neglected figure, McKinney makes an important contribution to our understanding of Gilded Age."— William A. Link, Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida

From the Publisher

With a sure hand, McKinney sorts out the competing interests; discovers the machinations of local and state politics; and wends through the inner workings of Congress to understand Blair's success in keeping reform issues in the public eye...

The Journal of American History

"Gordon McKinney provides a discerning and sympathetic account of Blair's tenacious struggles to use an idealized image of his home region as a legislative template. This is a book that has been worth waiting for."

Daniel W. Crofts

This well-crafted biography of Henry W. Blair places the New Hampshire politician at the center of late nineteenth-century political debates about moral reform.... both general readers and historians of the Gilded Age will find much to like about this study.

The Historian