The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 55, July 1951 - April, 1952 Page: 317
562 p. : ill. (some col.), ports., maps (some col.) ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
317
formula for Southern safety, in the Union or out of it. When they
were able to put aside their animosities, as for instance in support
of the Georgia platform, it was only a means to the end of
Southern security. Despite nominal affiliation with the national
party organizations, most Georgia leaders probably took a pro-
vincial view of Southern security. Alexander H. Stephens and
Herschel V. Johnson, and probably Howell Cobb for most of
this period, were hopeful that the national organization offered
the greater protection of Southern interests. Certainly it was the
surest guarantee of getting elected and re-elected to office, the
primary concern of politicians. Dr. Montgomery selects Howell
Cobb, a Whig, as being illustrative of the dilemma of a busy
politician who attempted to maintain a national alignment and
at the same time square himself with sectional interest.
But at long last, when the crisis culminated, the degree of
harmony and the prescription were not the work of old leaders
operating within the framework of national parties. It was Joseph
E. Brown who united for a time the squires and the wool hats
and a sufficient number of Whigs, Democrats, and Americans to
accomplish secession. On this final issue, the suave Cobb and
the domineering Toombs were in reality satellites of "Cherokee"
Brown, and Brown held the baton over the cacophony only
because he was governor of Georgia in 1861. The Georgia dele-
gation's influence was always limited by the unwillingness of the
politicians to lay aside intra-party strife and personal antagonism,
even during the calamitous days of the Confederacy.
Cracker Parties is, incidentally, an excellent analysis of Georgia
newspaper material and editorial policy. Neutralism was not a
trait of Georgia editors. They were zealous guardians of the
public welfare, and they were generally partisan as to parties
and persons. They were not content to serve as organs and to
"labor in the vineyard" (a figure repeated often enough in this
study to become itself somewhat toilsome) of any given leader.
With his intimate knowledge of pre-war newspapers and leaders
in Georgia, Dr. Montgomery would make another valuable con-
tribution to Southern history if he would follow through with
the efforts of these papers and leaders-they were in the main
the same leaders-to find a formula for security even after seces-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 55, July 1951 - April, 1952, periodical, 1952; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101139/m1/367/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.