Book Review: Holding the Political Center in Illinois: Conservatism and Union on the Brink of the Civil War

Holding the Political Center in Illinois: Conservatism and Union on Brink of the Civil War. By Ian T. Iverson. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2024. Softcover, 273 pp. $39.95.

Reviewed by Al Mackey

President Richard M. Nixon, in a short tutorial for one of his aides, once explained how electoral politics worked. With two sides, Republican and Democrat, there are committed partisans on each side, which Nixon quantified as about 30 percent the electorate being on each side. The other 40 percent of the electorate held the critical balance, in the center between the two. Nixon’s insight was not new. Politicians have known about the vital importance of the center for as long as there have been elections.

In Holding the Political Center in Illinois: Conservatism and Union on the Brink of the Civil War, Dr. Ian Iverson traces how Republicans and Democrats in antebellum Illinois contested for the political center and sought moderation while simultaneously debating each other over what constituted “conservatism,” with each side striving to convince the electorate they deserved that label. This was important because “conservatives” in the mid-19th century were the “moderates.” They were seen as the moderate middle between the “ultras” on either side of the ideological spectrum.

Dr. Iverson makes the point that today we normally think of mid-19th century Democrats as being more proslavery, but this is not necessarily true for northern Democrats. In Illinois, he tells us, the Democrats were usually personally averse to the institution, but also averse to criticizing southerners for their embrace of the institution. Most in Illinois, we find, were in favor of preserving the Union, no matter what their partisan ideological viewpoint.

As one might expect, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas play prominent roles in Dr. Iverson’s narrative. Both sought to capture the center by claiming the mantle of conservatism. One can see, in Lincoln’s speeches from the 1850s, how he claimed his was a true conservative position. Dr. Iverson delves into how both men sought to convince the electorate that they held the truly conservative positions.

Dr. Iverson organized his narrative in chronological order, taking us from the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Douglas authored, to Lincoln’s election as president of the United States, followed by the secession of the seven Deep South “Cotton States.” In doing so, he relied on a nice balance between primary sources and top-quality secondary sources representing the best in historical scholarship. This helps make his argument of both Republicans and Democrats contending for the conservative label, and thus the political center in Illinois, well supported and compelling.

The book fits well into the existing historiography. Iverson points out how most Illinoisans, Republican, Democrat, or other, were personally opposed to both slavery and racial equality for African Americans, as well as opposed to breaking up the Union. This is mainstream for today’s historians. I found Dr. Iverson’s scholarship to be top-notch. Perhaps an expert in Illinois antebellum politics might find some weaknesses in the book, but I could not. Because many works on this era don’t get deeply into Illinois politics, the book makes a needed contribution to fill a space.

I found doing a deeper dive into the politics of a single state was an interesting exercise. Due to the fame of the Lincoln vs. Douglas juxtaposition, there was much in the narrative that was familiar to a typical Civil War student, but there was also much in the book that was new to this reader, and learning the new information was fascinating. I especially enjoyed his discussion of how people in the mid-19th century understood conservatism and moderation in politics. I think most Civil War students will find this book to be a worthy addition to their bookshelves.

Al Mackey is a retired US Air Force colonel currently contributing to his community by serving as a substitute teacher in Pennsylvania. A lifelong student of the American Civil War since taking an undergraduate course with Professor James I. “Bud” Robertson at Virginia Tech, Al blogs at Student of the American Civil War, where he posts reviews, videos, interviews, interesting articles he finds, and research results.