Fun with Political Geography
My students and I had fun discussing political geography today. For instance, take a look at these two maps side by side. First, we have the presidential electoral map from 1860, from the National Atlas of the United States:
Then we have this recent study, from Open Left, depicting how white men (the only ones eligible to vote in 1860) voted in 2008:
Now, obviously it would be very easy to overdraw an analysis from these two maps. And indeed, I think Open Left is a bit too Whiggish (despite trying not to be Whiggish) about the links between the expansion of voting rights and the election of Progressive presidential candidates–after all, the expanded electorate has certainly elected its share of conservative Presidents.
But it’s still pretty interesting.
Yes, Interesting and somewhat depressing. I had thought, and still think that we’ve been watching the slow but steady disintegration of the slave party system as regional one-party dominance has given way to more intense party (and hence ideological) competition in both northern and southern states. Obama’s election seemed as if it might signal a tectonic shift in this process. But the durability of this system is incredible. And this morning you’ve caught me feeling less confident that the Yankees will ever win this long Civil War…
Comment by Marcus Daniel — November 23, 2009 @ 1:58 pm