The Center Could Not Hold: Congressman William H. English and His Antebellum Political Times by Elliott Schimmel (review)

Reviewed by: The Center Could Not Hold: Congressman William H. English and His Antebellum Political Times by Elliott Schimmel A. James Fuller The Center Could Not Hold: Congressman William H. English and His Antebellum Political Times By Elliott Schimmel (Ocala, Fl.: Atlantic Publishing, 2020. Pp. 562. Illustrations, appendix, works cited, index. Paperbound, $29.95.) In one sense, Elliott Schimmel has done a great service with this book. We need a biography of William H. English, four-term congressman and the Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate in 1880. Not only was English a rising political star in the 1850s, he was also a prominent banker and real estate developer in Indianapolis. His real estate projects helped build the city, a fact marked today by English Avenue, which still bears his name. Meanwhile, from its opening on the downtown Circle in 1880 until its closing in 1948, his English's Hotel and Opera House served as a center of the city's social and cultural life. In providing us with a deeply researched political biography, Schimmel has helped fill the need for a study of English. In another sense, this book is a disappointment. Schimmel rightly argues that English tried to lead the country to a compromise over the extension of slavery into Kansas, the issue that brought on the Civil War. Even the title points to placing the subject in the context of his political times. But the book ultimately fails to give us what we need from a study of William H. English. The author clearly states that this is a study of one half of one man's life, focused on his political career. However, the argument that English was a moderate Democrat who failed in his effort to bring about a compromise ultimately falls short of the mark, as does the book's limited scope. Born in Scott County, Indiana, William English attended Hanover College but left the school to start a law practice. A lifelong Jacksonian Democrat, he was elected to the state legislature in 1851 and in the following year to Congress, where he served four terms. His [End Page 193] time there was dominated by the issue of slavery, as the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 opened the door to the expansion of slavery by overturning the Missouri Compromise. English voted for the measure and then helped vote down the admission of Kansas as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution. He subsequently introduced the English Bill, a compromise that would allow Kansas to be admitted as a slave state if its voters approved the act, which substantially curtailed the amount of federal land gifted to the new state. Kansas voters rejected the measure and Kansas did not become a slave state. English did not seek reelection in 1860 and became a "War Democrat" who supported the Union effort during the Rebellion. Although he thereafter remained focused mostly on his business interests, he was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1880, running unsuccessfully with Winfield Scott Hancock. Schimmel covers all this in great detail, perhaps too much detail. Still, the volume fails to show us fully the man in his times, and it is insufficiently conversant with the wide literature on the period. Many footnotes reference important titles but other works are missing, and the text lacks sufficient context to explain persuasively how and why English failed. The author offers strong coverage of English and his politics; he explains the issues of slavery's expansion and English's personal racism. But the need for more context is perhaps best seen in the slim final chapter. English's later career—the rest of his interesting life—needs more attention. Seeing more of English would better explain him and also allow us to see more of Indiana, more of the Midwest, and more of that time in U.S. history. [End Page 194] A. James Fuller University of Indianapolis Copyright © 2023 Trustees of Indiana University