“Settled Out of Doors:” Caucus Building, Sociability, and Partisan Development in the Early Republic (1797-1828)
Mercedes “Sadie” Haigler is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Virginia. She graduated with a B.A. in history from Alice Lloyd College and earned her M.A. in History from University of Virginia. Sadie studies political culture and social life in early Washington with a focus on the influence of feminized sociability on political strategies and party building in Congress. She is broadly interested in histories of political ideology, partisanship, women and gender, and congressional development in the United States.
Her dissertation investigates the intersection between sociability and partisan development in the political communities of Philadelphia and Washington City, through an examination of the creation and evolution of the partisan caucus—a foundational, if overlooked, political tool essential to the formation of political parties in the United States. In the early republic, politicians used social events in domestic locations-- often curated and maintained by women-- to create deeper and more complex partisan identities, heightened differences, oppositional policy positions, and new political instruments to consolidate power in Congress. During this period, partisan organization was not yet seen as a legitimate element of the political process. Sadie argues that the sensitive and suspicious nature of political culture during this period required politicians to actively protect their reputations from harm while engaging in partisan activities. Her work demonstrates that feminized sociability helped disguise and legitimate caucus organization, thus protecting partisans from outside scrutiny. Although partisan caucuses were originally devised to be a temporary solution to intense political crisis, varied and flexible forms of caucusing would ultimately become a constant in party development-- sometimes overriding the balance of powers to allow partisan collaboration between branches of government, and keeping party spirit alive until it could be legitimized and publicized during the Jacksonian era.
Her research has been supported by organizations such as the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, and the International Center of Jefferson Studies. In addition to her own research, Sadie has a strong interest in public-facing history and education. Her work is featured in the recent exhibit, “Legacies of the Revolution” at James Monroe’s Highland, where she served as a research intern.