James Roger Sharp | |
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Occupation(s) | Political historian, academic and author |
Academic background | |
Education | AB., Political Science MA., American History PhD., American History |
Alma mater | University of Missouri University of California at Berkeley |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Syracuse University |
James Roger Sharp is a political historian,academic and author. He is a professor emeritus of History at Maxwell School of Syracuse University. [1]
Sharp is most known for his work on American political history,particularly the early national and middle period (1789–1860). He has authored and co-authored research articles and books such as The Deadlocked Election of 1800:Jefferson,Burr,and the Union in the Balance,American Politics in the Early Republic:The New Nation in Crisis,The Jacksonians versus the banks:Politics in the States after the panic of 1837 and 4 volumes of American Leaders (South,Northeast,Midwest,and West). He is a recipient of the 1971 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, [2] the 1979-1980 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, [3] 1995 Chancellor's Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement and was named the Scholar-Teacher of the Year by Syracuse University in 1996. [4]
Sharp obtained an AB in Political Science in 1958 and an MA in American History in 1960,both from the University of Missouri. Subsequently,he received a PhD in American History from the University of California at Berkeley in 1966. [1]
Sharp began his academic career in 1966 as an assistant professor at Syracuse University,where he was later appointed associate professor in 1970 and has been serving as Professor of History since 1979. [1]
From 1967 to 1968,Sharp was the Associate Chairperson of the Department of History,and subsequently became a member of the University Senate from 1982 to 2000. He worked as Chair of the Department of History in four terms:initially from 1976 to 1983,then as Acting Chair from 1986 to 1987,and later as chair from 1990 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2003. [5]
In 1977,he was a Conferee on the Annual Chief Justice Earl Warren Conference on Advocacy in the United States,and subsequently served as a Consultant to SUNY to evaluate history department and program at SUNY Potsdam in 1980. In addition,he was a member of professional societies like the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic,where he became the national program chairman for the conference in 1981,while also being on the Advisory Council from 1981 to 1985. Concurrently,he served on the Board of Editors for the Journal of the Early Republic and later became a Consultant to the Courage Foundation from 1986 to 1992. [6]
Sharp has contributed to the field of political history by studying American political history,major events,legislative leadership and decision making,along with the general situation in the period between 1789 and 1860. [1]
Sharp has authored,co-authored and edited several books on the early American Republic and the main political occurrences of that time. He discussed Jacksonian democracy and surrounding controversy in The Jacksonians versus the banks:Politics in the States after the panic of 1837,about which W.R. Brock stated,"This book shows that the study of politics in the states opens a new field for inquiry and may force the abandonment or revision of several familiar theses." [7]
In his 1993 book American Politics in the Early Republic:The New Nation in Crisis,Sharp presented an analysis of the challenges faced by the new nation between the years 1789 to 1801 in establishing a stable union amid political polarization,sectional allegiances,and foreign policy complexities. John H. Flannagan wrote,"a very informative,thought provoking,and scholarly assessment of the so-called Federalist Era.... [that] may well replace the pioneering work of John C. Miller as the new standard text or required reading in college and graduate school classes." [8]
Sharp,along with his wife,Nancy W. Sharp,edited four volumes assessing the state house speakers from 1911 to 1994,offering biographical and career details on over 1,400 speakers,entitled American Legislative Leaders in the Mid-West,1911-1994,American Legislative Leaders in the Northeast,American Legislative Leaders in the South and American Legislative Leaders in the West. [9]
Furthermore,Sharp authored The Deadlocked Election of 1800:Jefferson,Burr,and the Union in the Balance,where he wrote on the historical context by reevaluating the 1800 election,dispelling misconceptions about states' rights,international conflicts,and political polarization in the era,and stated that the French Revolution significantly influenced early Americans' perceptions,serving as a mirror to assess their own nation's historical progress and potential challenges. [10] In his review for the Journal of the Early Republic,Andrew W. Robertson remarked,"Sharp explains in vivid detail the dramatic oscillations in public support between the Federalists and Republicans in the late 1790s. Here the author shows himself to be the master of the telling details of both state and national politics." [11]
The Republican Party,retroactively called the Democratic-Republican Party,and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names,was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s that championed liberalism,republicanism,individual liberty,equal rights,decentralization,free markets,free trade,agrarianism,and sympathy with the French Revolution. The party became increasingly dominant after the 1800 elections as the opposing Federalist Party collapsed.
The Federalist Party was a conservative and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. Under Alexander Hamilton,it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. Defeated by the Democratic-Republican Party in 1800,it became a minority party while keeping its stronghold in New England and made a brief resurgence by opposing the War of 1812. It then collapsed with its last presidential candidate in 1816. Remnants lasted for a few years afterwards. The party appealed to businesses and to conservatives who favored banks,national over state government,manufacturing,an army and navy,and in world affairs preferred Great Britain and strongly opposed the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. The party favored centralization,federalism,modernization,industrialization,and protectionism.
The 1796 United States presidential election was the third quadrennial presidential election of the United States. It was held from Friday,November 4 to Wednesday,December 7,1796. It was the first contested American presidential election,the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role,and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent vice president John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.
The 1800 United States presidential election was the fourth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from October 31 to December 3,1800. In what is sometimes called the "Revolution of 1800",the Democratic-Republican Party candidate,Vice President Thomas Jefferson,defeated the Federalist Party candidate and incumbent,President John Adams. The election was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership. This was the first presidential election in American history to be a rematch.
Alexander Hamilton was an American military officer,statesman,and Founding Father who served as the first secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 during George Washington's presidency.
Aaron Burr Jr. was an American politician,businessman,lawyer,and Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 during Thomas Jefferson's first presidential term. He founded the Manhattan Company on September 1,1799. Burr is remembered for his famous personal and political conflict with Alexander Hamilton,which culminated in the Burr–Hamilton duel in Weehawken,New Jersey on July 11,1804. Burr mortally wounded Hamilton,who died from his wounds the following day.
George Clinton was an American soldier,statesman,and Founding Father of the United States. A prominent Democratic-Republican,Clinton served as the fourth vice president of the United States from 1805 until his death in 1812. He also served as the first governor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and again from 1801 to 1804. Along with John C. Calhoun,he is one of two vice presidents to hold office under two consecutive presidents. He was also the first vice-president to die in office.
Burr:A Novel is a 1973 historical novel by Gore Vidal that challenges the traditional Founding Fathers iconography of United States history,by means of a narrative that includes a fictional memoir by Aaron Burr,in representing the people,politics,and events of the U.S. in the early 19th century. It was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1974.
This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from 1790 to 1819.
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression,which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits,prices,and wages dropped,westward expansion was stalled,unemployment rose,and pessimism abounded.
Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21 and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president,Andrew Jackson and his supporters,it became the nation's dominant political worldview for a generation. The term itself was in active use by the 1830s.
Jeffersonian democracy,named after its advocate Thomas Jefferson,was one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The Jeffersonians were deeply committed to American republicanism,which meant opposition to what they considered to be artificial aristocracy,opposition to corruption,and insistence on virtue,with a priority for the "yeoman farmer","planters",and the "plain folk". They were antagonistic to the aristocratic elitism of merchants,bankers,and manufacturers,distrusted factory workers,and strongly opposed and were on the watch for supporters of the Westminster system.
The history of the United States from 1789 to 1815 was marked by the nascent years of the American Republic under the new U.S. Constitution.
The Midnight Judges Act expanded the federal judiciary of the United States. The act was supported by the John Adams administration and the Federalist Party. Passage of the act has been described as "the last major policy achievement of the Federalists."
The Anti-Administration party was an informal political faction in the United States led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson that opposed policies of then Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in the first term of U.S. president George Washington. It was not an organized political party,but an unorganized faction. Most members had been Anti-Federalists in 1788,when they opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution. However,the situation was fluid,with members joining and leaving.
The First Party System was the political party system in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824. It featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency,Congress,and the states:the Federalist Party,created largely by Alexander Hamilton,and the rival Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party,formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison,usually called at the time the Republican Party.
The Oxford History of the United States is an ongoing multivolume narrative history of the United States published by Oxford University Press. Conceived in the 1950s and launched in 1961 under the co-editorship of historians Richard Hofstadter and C. Vann Woodward,the series has been edited by David M. Kennedy since 1999.
The Federalist Era in American history ran from 1788 to 1800,a time when the Federalist Party and its predecessors were dominant in American politics. During this period,Federalists generally controlled Congress and enjoyed the support of President George Washington and President John Adams. The era saw the creation of a new,stronger federal government under the United States Constitution,a deepening of support for nationalism,and diminished fears of tyranny by a central government. The era began with the ratification of the United States Constitution and ended with the Democratic-Republican Party's victory in the 1800 elections.
Political eras of the United States refer to a model of American politics used in history and political science to periodize the political party system existing in the United States.
This is a select bibliography of Post World War II books and journal articles about Martin Van Buren,an American statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841.