The Letters1821 1842

Author : Ann Sandford
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438466951
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Download or read book Reluctant Reformer written by Ann Sandford and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the untold story of the life and career of Nathan Sanford, a New York State lawyer-politician who capitalized on opportunities created by the new politics of the early Republic to achieve social mobility. Set in the tumultuous decades of post-revolutionary America, Reluctant Reformer brings to light the long neglected New York lawyer-politician, Nathan Sanford. As a lawyer, Sanford contributed to modern property law. In the United States Senate, he dealt with central banking, struggled against slavery, and supported popular voting for presidential electors. He was a major designer of the program to rationalize the nation’s currency. Against a backdrop of European wars and the War of 1812, he capitalized on opportunities for upward social mobility in a period of nation-building and commercial expansion. At the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821, he fought for universal manhood suffrage. Educated in history and government at Clinton Academy on Long Island and at Yale, and a student at the Litchfield School of Law, Sanford rose quickly to prominence as the federal attorney appointed by President Jefferson to serve all of New York State. Fueled by ambition, he navigated a career among Republican factional leaders—DeWitt Clinton, Aaron Burr, and Martin Van Buren—first in New York City, and then in the state and the nation. In 1824, he ran for vice president on the ticket with Henry Clay. Attuned to his familial ties to eastern Long Island but beyond the bounds of the rural community of his youth, Sanford faced decisions about whom to trust with a militia’s gun and a citizen’s vote. He could shift from his principles toward political compromise, as in restricting black male suffrage and in the removal of Indians from their ancestral lands. In this book, Sanford is revealed as a wealth-seeking lawyer and officeholder who contributed to the expansion of democratic rights and responsive government in the Early Republic. In doing so, he proved to be a reluctant reformer who deserves a place in our public memory. Ann Sandford holds a PhD from New York University and is the author of Grandfather Lived Here: The Transformation of Bridgehampton, New York, 1870–1970. Her articles have covered topics in early modern European history and the history of Long Island. She has been a history professor and a business executive. She lives in Sagaponack, New York.