New from the University of Alabama Press:
Philip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America: An Old Republican in King Andrew’s Court, by William S. Belko (Missouri Humanities Council). A description from the Press:
William S. Belko’s Phillip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America
provides the first comprehensive biography of a pivotal yet nearly
forgotten statesman who made numerous key contributions to a
transformative period of early American history.
Barbour, a
Virginia lawyer, participated in America’s transition from a mostly
republican government to a truer majority democracy, notably while
serving as the twelfth Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives and later as an associate justice of the United States
Supreme Court. After being elected to the US Congress during the War of
1812, Barbour also emerged as one of the foremost champions of states’
rights, consistently and energetically fighting against expansions of
federal powers. He, along with other Jeffersonian Old Republicans,
opposed federal plans for a national tariff and internal improvements.
Later, Barbour became one of the first Jeffersonian politicians to join
the Jacksonian Democrats in Jackson’s war against a national bank.
Barbour continued to make crucial strides in support of states’ rights
after taking his seat on the United States Supreme Court in 1836 under
Chief Justice Roger Taney. He contributed to the Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge and Briscoe v. Bank of Kentucky decisions, which bolstered states’ rights. He also delivered the opinion of the court in New York v. Miln, which provided the basis for the State Police Powers Doctrine.
Expertly interweaving biography, history, political science, and jurisprudence, Phillip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America
remembers the man whose personal life and career were emblematic of the
decades in which the United States moved from the Age of Jefferson to
the Age of Jackson, contributing to developments that continue to
animate American politics today.
A few blurbs:
"Robustly researched and exceptionally well written, Philip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America reveals Barbour's political and intellectual world." —Alfred L. Brophy
"Philip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America
provides a much needed and overdue scholarly intervention. It elevates
Barbour to his proper place in history." —H. Robert Baker
More information is available
here.
