A Return to his Native Town: Martin Van Buren's Life at Lindenwald, 1839-1862
Richards LL, Miller MR, Gilg E. 2006. A Return to his Native Town: Martin Van Buren's Life at Lindenwald, 1839-1862. Historic Resource Study. Washington, D.C.
The history of Lindenwald as seen from the turn of the twenty-first century encompasses not only the political figure at the family's head, but all of the men and women of the Van Buren families in residence, as well as the men and women whose lives unfolded in the estate's farm and gatehouses, and in the third-floor and basement spaces of the mansion itself. New scholarship on farming in the mid-Hudson Valley, on domestic architecture and landscape, on labor and gender, reveal Lindenwald to be a complex place that witnessed political and personal dramas both large and small. National phenomena from the emergence of the Italianate style to the arrival of thousands of young Irish women emigrants played out in and around Lindenwald, encircling and shaping the lives of the Van Burens in all their dailiness. Understanding Lindenwald first requires an understanding of the history of American political life in the first half of the nineteenth century. Since the completion of John D. R. Platt and Harlan D. Unrau's Historic Resource Study in 1982, political historians have focused more and more on the widespread participation of ordinary white males in the nation's politics. By the 1840s, notes historian Jean H. Baker, political rallies "were better attended than Sunday services or even meetings of itinerant preachers" and elections "became secular holy days" with voter turnouts of 79 percent, 80 percent, and 82 percent becoming commonplace. The electorate, argues Baker, clearly "gave closer attention to politics than is the case today, thereby guaranteeing a broader, deeper understanding of issues." Far more than "any subsequent era," adds William E. Gienapp, "political life formed the very essence of the pre-Civil War generation's experience." Moreover, adds Michael E. McGerr, political parties became far more than just instruments for getting out the vote and formulating public policy. They became "a natural lens through which to view the world."
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Richards, Leonard; Miller, Marla; Gilg, Erik
- Date of Issue
- 2006-08
- Units
- HIST , MAVA
- Keywords
- Cultural Resources, Culture, ehistory, Free Soil Party, Historical, History, Organization, party, Politics, president, Resource, Van Buren