"The people shared a good-natured enthusiasm for their country, for their party, and for their leaders. If they were not so solemn, they also were not so angry at their political opponents. If politics was a game, then both winners and losers were more likely to be good sports. The future of the nation, the prosperity of workers and businessmen, and the issues of peace and war might depend on who won or lost. But good-humored politics could remind all Americans of how much they had in common."
From The Landmark History of the American People, Chapter 22; "Thinking Like Americans" circa 1820's
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