What America’s Divided And Tumultuous Politics Of The Late-19th Century Can Teach Us
Can today’s divided America learn something from the divisions of the past? zimmytws, iStock/Getty Images Plus BY ROBERT A. STRONG SENIOR FELLOW, MILLER CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA People trying to understand politics in the United States today often turn to history for precedents and perspective. Are our current divisions like the ones that preceded the American Revolution or the Civil War? Did the dramatic events of the 1960s generate the same kind of social and political forces seen today? Are there lessons from the past that show us how eras of intense political turmoil eventually subside? As a scholar of American politics and the presidency , I believe one American historical period is especially worth revisiting in this turbulent moment in the U.S.: the 20 tumultuous years between the presidencies of Ulysses S. Grant and William McKinley in the second half of the 19th century. The two decades between 1876 and 1896 are usually remembered as a time when the cities in the East g...
