In the midst of perpetual fetes
Subtitle: the making of American nationalism, 1776-1820
By: David Waldstreicher.
Contributors: Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture.
Publisher: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 364
Subjects: Nationalism -- United States -- History -- 18th century; Festivals -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 18th century; Political culture -- United States -- History -- 18th century; Nationalism -- United States -- History -- 19th century; Festivals -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 19th century; Political culture -- United States -- History -- 19th century; United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
Description: David Waldstreicher's In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes probes the practices of nationalism in a country made up of inherent and evolving divisions. His question is simple: How did national celebrations work as political strategy and as unifying event? Pursuing this inquiry, Waldstreicher offers a series of rich explorations into the dynamics of festivities that celebrated - or mourned - events and characters in the early republic.

Using an innovative methodology and a sophisticated theoretical framework, Waldstreicher uncovers the processes that generated a profusion of patriotic sentiment.

While celebrations like those for the Constitution, the Fourth of July, Washington's birthday, Jefferson's inauguration, and the end of the slave trade enabled nonvoters to participate intimately in the political process, they also provided ways to keep women and blacks in prescribed, noncitizen roles, even as members of both groups began to use celebrations for their own ends.

Through a careful analysis of printed materials - newspapers, broadsides, toasts, orations, and ballads, - in relation to nationalist practices, Waldstreicher traces the emergence of an American political culture formed around a desired unity of purpose.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.