Review by Choice Review
Dykstra's methodologically sophisticated and impeccably researched work tracks the shifting political winds of Iowa from the 1830s to the 1880s--the pivotal decades framing the great debates over slavery and freedom in the US--through a close analysis of three civil rights referenda held at critical moments: 1857, 1868, and 1880. Dykstra's research leads him to conclude that during this period Iowa moved from one of the "most racially conservative free states in the Union into one of its most progressive." Early on, southerners dominated the politics of the territory, and by virtue of its proximity to slaveholding Missouri, they passed racist legislation aimed at codifying white supremacy and discouraging black immigration. Over the next several decades, however, northerners, many from abolitionist New England, moved into the region and displaced the southern hegemony while shifting Iowa toward greater egalitarianism. The author applies sophisticated ecological regression quantification techniques to a wide range of voting statistics; a number of tables and an appendix on data and methods complement the work. Strongly recommended for graduate-level and research libraries.
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.