Rift in the Democracy: The Little-known Story of Political Personalities and Intrigue in the Annexation of Texas Which Led to the Civil War

Autumn 1840. It seemed as if the American people had gone mad. Across the land, bonfires and torch­light parades lighted the night skies. Mobs chanted silly ditties to express their purpose—'Tippecanoe and Tyler, too,' or 'Van, Van is a used up man.' The wildest election in the sixty some years of the history of the Republic was inspiring citizens to new heights of humbuggery."

So writes James Paul in the lucid manner of modern scholarship that aims as much to communicate as to authenticate....