Broken glass
Subtitle: Caleb Cushing and the shattering of the Union
By: John M. Belohlavek.
Series: Civil War in the North
Publisher: Kent State University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Kent, Ohio
Language: eng
Number of pages: 482
ISBN-13: 9780873388412
Subjects: Cushing, Caleb, 1800-1879.; United States. Congress. House -- Biography.; Legislators -- United States -- Biography.; Politicians -- Massachusetts -- Biography.; Mexican War, 1846-1848 -- Biography.; Diplomats -- United States -- Biography.; Diplomats -- China -- Biography.; Attorneys general -- United States -- Biography.; Massachusetts -- Politics and government -- 1775-1865.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861.
Genres: Biography.
Description: ""The most hated man in New England," as critics dubbed him on the eve of the Civil War, Caleb Cushing, brash and controversial, was perhaps the last of 19th-century America's renaissance figures. Poet and politician, essayist and diplomat, general and lawyer, this multidimensional scion of a Newburyport, Massachusetts, mercantile family moved in and out of positions of power and influence for more than fifty years."

"First as a spokesman for the Whig and then the Democratic parties, Cushing served in Congress, as the minister to China, as a general in the Mexican War, as U.S. attorney general, and as a legal advisor and diplomatic operative for Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant. With an unharnessed mind and probing intellect, Cushing inspired and infuriated contemporaries with his strident views on such topics as race relations and gender roles, national expansion, and the legitimacy of secession. While his positions generated arguments and garnered enemies, his views often mirrored those of many Americans. His abilities and talents sustained him in public service and made him one of the most outstanding and fascinating figures of the era."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The view from High Street (1800-1826); title: Foreign adventures and congressional ventures (1827-1834); title: Whig star rising : the politics of antislavery (1835-1838); title: Battling the British Lion and the American Fox (1837-1840); title: Tyler and the Corporal's Guard (1841-1843); title: The road to China (1843-1844); title: The agent of Manifest Destiny (1845-1848); title: The doughface Democrat (1848-1853); title: The powerbroker : attorney general (1853-1857); title: The most unpopular man in New England (1857-1861); title: From Massachusetts exile to Washington insider (1861-1869); title: The diplomat reemerges (1869-1879)