Democracy's Lawyer

Democracy's Lawyer

Author: John Roderick Heller

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2010-06

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 0807137421

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A central political figure in the first post-Revolutionary generation, Felix Grundy (1775--1840) epitomized the "American democrat" who so famously fascinated Alexis de Tocqueville. Born and reared on the isolated frontier, Grundy rose largely by his own ability to become the Old Southwest's greatest criminal lawyer and one of the first radical political reformers in the fledgling United States. In Democracy's Lawyer, the first comprehensive biography of Grundy since 1940, J. Roderick Heller reveals how Grundy's life typifies the archetypal, post--founding fathers generation that forged America's culture and institutions. After his birth in Virginia, Grundy moved west at age five to the region that would become Kentucky, where he lost three brothers in Indian wars. He earned a law degree, joined the legislature, and quickly became Henry Clay's main rival. At age thirty-one, after rising to become chief justice of Kentucky, Grundy moved to Tennessee, where voters soon elected him to Congress. In Washington, Grundy proved so voracious a proponent of the War of 1812 that a popular slogan of the day blamed the war on "Madison, Grundy, and the Devil." A pivotal U.S. senator during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, Grundy also served as Martin Van Buren's attorney general and developed a close association with his law student and political protégé James K. Polk. Grundy championed the ideals of the American West, and as Heller demonstrates, his dominating belief -- equality in access to power -- motivated many of his political battles. Aristocratic federalism threatened the principles of the Revolution, Grundy asserted, and he opposed fetters on freedom of opportunity, whether from government or entrenched economic elites. Although widely known as a politician, Grundy achieved even greater fame as a criminal lawyer. Of the purported 185 murder defendants that he represented, only one was hanged. At a time when criminal trials served as popular entertainment, Grundy's mere appearance in a courtroom drew spectators from miles around, and his legal reputation soon spread nationwide. One nineteenth-century Nashvillian declared that Grundy "could stand on a street corner and talk the cobblestones into life." Shifting seamlessly within the worlds of law, entrepreneurship, and politics, Felix Grundy exemplified the questing, mobile society of early nineteenth-century America. With Democracy's Lawyer, Heller firmly establishes Grundy as a powerful player and personality in early American law and politics.


Middle Tennessee, 1775-1825

Middle Tennessee, 1775-1825

Author: Kristofer Ray

Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13:

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"In tracing the evolution of political culture in early Tennessee, Kris Ray provides a sweeping study of the multifaceted ways in which early Americans understood leadership and democratic participation. Readers will find Middle Tennessee, 1775-1825 an engaging contribution to our understanding of how, in the crucible of the Early American Republic, democracy did not have to take the form of competing political parties to be vibrant and challenging." --Craig Thompson Friend, author of Along the Maysville Road: The Early American Republic in the Trans-Appalachian West "Ray's work is an excellent reflection of current historical scholarship, the first systematic attempt to place Middle Tennessee within the same framework developed in other recent books on Trans-Appalachian states." --John R. Finger, author of Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition During its early years, the frontier region of Middle Tennessee developed from thinly settled outposts to a premier destination for thousands of land-hungry immigrants. The resulting population explosion led to a shift in political power from a small group of surveyors and speculators to the farmers, merchants, and entrepreneurs attracted by a burgeoning, globally-connected agricultural economy. Kristofer Ray chronicles the rise of Middle Tennessee's political system as it transformed from one dominated by land interests to an increasingly vibrant democracy in which the "common man" had more of a voice. He also explores the fact that, as the economy grew, a sharp debate emerged between the mercantile class and ordinary farmers as to the best way to sustain regional progress. This book explores the issues, values, and visions around which the politics of early Middle Tennessee were based. It convincingly shows how the region's emerging political culture established a foundation for the rise of popular democracy, which, as Ray reveals, meant that Tennesseans not only expressed themselves through voting, but also through the social realms of town hall meetings, parades, and even effigy burnings. This book explores both the promises and limitations of political cultural development in early Middle Tennessee. It provides the context out of which Andrew Jackson would emerge as a national political force. It will appeal to those interested in southern studies, American history or political science. Kristofer Ray is assistant professor of history at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. His articles have appeared in Ohio Valley History and the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.


The Negro

The Negro

Author: William Edward Burghardt Du Bois

Publisher:

Published: 1915

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13:

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John Wesley

John Wesley

Author: John Henry Overton

Publisher:

Published: 2017-11-29

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9783337399078

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John Wesley is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1891. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.


The Cherokee Nation of Indians

The Cherokee Nation of Indians

Author: Charles C. Royce

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2023-12-14

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13:

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The following monograph on the history of the Cherokees, with its accompanying maps, is given as an illustration of the character of the work in its treatment of each of the Indian tribes. In the preparation of this book, more particularly in the tracing out of the various boundary lines, much careful attention and research have been given to all available authorities or sources of information. The old manuscript records of the Government, the shelves of the Congressional Library, including its very large collection of American maps, local records, and the knowledge of "old settlers," as well as the accretions of various State historical societies, have been made to pay tribute to the subject.