Magic Of The Many

A study of partisan politics and class conflict in early nineteenth-century Boston, this book traces the history of a popular revolt against an entrenched ruling elite. Led by an unlikely populist, patrician Josiah Quincy, the rebellion against the reigning Federalist party not only altered the political landscape of Boston but also signalled the advent of the Jacksonian Age.

According to Matthew H. Crocker, Boston in the early republic was a city divided by opposing conceptions of democracy. …