Prologue: America's Crisis -- 1. Slavery and States' Rights in the Early Republic -- 2. The Political Economy of Slavery and Secession -- 3. The Slave Power Seeks Foreign Conquest -- 4. Emergence of the Republican Party -- 5. The Confederate States of America -- 6. Mobilizing for Conflict -- 7. The Military Struggle -- 8. The War to Abolish Slavery? -- 9. Republican Neo-Mercantilism Versus Confederate War Socialism -- 10. Dissent and Disaffection - North and South -- 11. The Ravages of Total War -- 12. The Politics of Reconstruction -- 13. American Society Transformed -- Epilogue: America's Turning Point.
Summary
This book combines a sweeping narrative history of the Civil War with a bold new look at the war's significance for American society. Professor Hummel sees the Civil War as America's turning point: simultaneously the culmination and repudiation of the American revolution. A unique feature of the book is the bibliographical essays which follow every chapter. Here the author surveys the literature and points out where his own interpretation fits into the continuing clash of viewpoints which informs historical debate on the Civil War.
The history, civil, political and military, of the southern rebellion, from its incipient stages to its close. Comprehending, also, all important state papers, ordinances of secession, proclamations, proceedings of Congress, official reports of commanders, etc., etc
Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-214) and index.
Contents
The American people at mid-century -- The legacy of the Mexican War -- A hell of a storm -- And the war came -- Call to arms -- The war at home -- The blue and the gray -- The destruction of slavery -- Looking ahead : wartime reconstruction -- Bibliographical essay.
Summary
What caused the Civil War? A House Divided presents a fresh and balanced interpretation that challenges the view of slavery as a largely artificial or symbolic issue in the conflict between two incompatible societies. This book traces the growth of bitter sectional discord in the years after 1848, when the acquisition of new American territories rekindled old controversies over the expansion of slavery. A series of compromises forestalled the crisis of secession but increasingly divided the country along slavery's lines. - Publisher.
This article states that there are errors in two books about the Civil War regarding the 3rd United States Colored Troops. The author says that the book "Lancaster County Pennsylvania In The Civil War" confuses the Corps de Afrique's with the 3rd United States Colored Troops. And the author finds that the "History of Lancaster County Pennsylvania" by Ellis and Evans also has errors regarding the 3rd United States Colored Troops. The author provides corrections to both books.
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Volume 118, number 1 (2017), p. 38-49Lancaster History Library - Periodical Article974.9 L245 v. 118, no. 1
Papers from a conference held at LancasterHistory.org in 2008. Presentation copy from the editors.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction: Bum rap or bad leadership? -- James Buchanan, Dred Scott, and the whisper of conspiracy / Paul Finkelman -- Prelude to armageddon: James Buchanan, Brigham Young, and a president's initiation to bloodshed / William P. MacKinnon -- General Jackson is dead: James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, and Kansas policy / Nicole Etcheson -- In defense of doughface diplomacy: a reevaluation of the foreign policy of James Buchanan / John M. Belohlavek -- President James Buchanan: executive leadership and the crisis of the democracy / Michael A. Morrison -- The South has been wronged: James Buchanan and the secession crisis / Jean H. Baker -- "In the midst of a great revolution": the northern response to the secession crisis / William G. Shade -- Joseph Holt, James Buchanan, and the secession crisis / Daniel W. Crofts -- A conversation with William W. Freehling and Michael F. Holt, September 19, 2008 / Moderated by John W. Quist -- Epilogue: James Buchanan's Civil War / Michael J. Birkner.
Summary
An edited volume examining the presidency of James Buchanan and his role engaging the complexities of the debate surrounding the president immediately before Lincoln.
