Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/605

 Macy : Political Parties in the L'liitcd States 595 after more than a century of progress towards his ideals, beckons us on to bolder and bolder experiment of ourselves. His is at once the most peccable and the most unassailable career in our history. Half of his philosophy is already abandoned by his own disciples. The other half is professed even by those who would call themselves disciples of his ad- versary. The candor, fairness, and good judgment of Professor Gordy are well displayed in the two important chapters which treat of the Alien and Sedition Laws and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. He is at pains to make clear not merely what the Federal statutes and the Re- publican protests actually meant, but how the two parties looked at the matter and what each party thought of the other. The Laws are con- demned and so are the Resolutions. One party had been led on to tyranny, the other goaded into something which, if it was not itself re- bellion, was to breed insurrection in after years. Yet the position of both parties seems natural in view of their mutual misunderstanding and distrust. On the whole, this first volume indicates that the writer is well- equipped for the task he has undertaken, provided he adheres to the method he has adopted. Careful and thoughtful students will find his book useful for reference, sane, intelligent, reasonable. It will never be popular, for there is not a brilliant line in it. The style is by no means bad, but it is undeniably dry. That, however, we have come to expect. It seems to be the rule rather than the exception that writers on history and politics shall forego such opportunities for fine writing as they find in their way. Professor Macy's Dook probably has less permanent value than Pro- fessor Gordy's. Contributing little or nothing to our knowledge of the controversies through which the country struggled from war with Mexico to civil war, it must stand or fall on the views which are advanced with unusual freedom concerning the ways in which secession might have been prevented. Professor Macy is fond of " ifs." The boldest "if" of all is expressed in this sentence : " Had President Taylor lived it is probable that the compromise measure of 1850 would have been defeated, Califor- nia would probably have been admitted as a free state, Texas would have been confined within narrower limits, the Union would not have been divided, and the Whig party would have drawn to itself the support of all classes who were in favor of restricting slavery within its existing limits." This is followed by an interesting attack on that view of his- tory which enables a historian to content himself with merely explaining what actually took place. It is an error. Professor Macy thinks, to ac- cept what has happened as inevitable — quite as bad an error as to make the whole course of history turn upon accidents. " To teach that the disruption of this Union and the horrible tragedy of our civil war are events that could not have been prevented is," he declares, "as immoral as it is to teach that every normal young man must inevitably lead for a time an immoral life."