In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes

In this innovative study, David Waldstreicher investigates the importance of political festivals in the early American republic. Drawing on newspapers, broadsides, diaries, and letters, he shows how patriotic celebrations and their reproduction in a rapidly expanding print culture helped connect local politics to national identity. Waldstreicher reveals how Americans worked out their political differences in creating a festive calendar. Using the Fourth of July as a model, members of different political parties and social movements invented new holidays celebrating such events as the ratification of the Constitution, Washington's birthday, Jefferson's inauguration, and the end of the slave trade. They used these politicized rituals, he argues, to build constituencies and to make political arguments on a national scale. While these celebrations enabled nonvoters to participate intimately in the political process and helped dissenters forge effective means of protest, they had their limits as vehicles of democratization or modes of citizenship, Waldstreicher says. Exploring the interplay of region, race, class, and gender in the development of a national identity, he demonstrates that an acknowledgment of the diversity and conflict inherent in the process is crucial to any understanding of American politics and culture.

In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820
David Waldstreicher is professor of history at Temple University.
ÝI¨t sets the agenda and the standard for future work on American nationalism and political culture.

"Journal of American History"
A book that demands the attention of specialists in the early American republic, and of social and cultural historians.

"Journal of Social History"
A very readable, extremely competent, thought provoking book.

"American Studies"
Waldstreicher combines cultural theory with fresh research, graceful writing, and a defined subject matter.

"American Studies"
"A book that demands the attention of specialists in the early American republic, and of social and cultural historians.

"Journal of Social History""
"A very readable, extremely competent, thought provoking book.

"American Studies""
"Waldstreicher combines cultural theory with fresh research, graceful writing, and a defined subject matter.

"American Studies""
[I]t sets the agenda and the standard for future work on American nationalism and political culture.

"Journal of American History"
A highly original work of political history.

"William and Mary Quarterly"