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.
Originally published: London : Pearson Education, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [327]-360) and index.
Contents
1. Inner power : Lincoln's ambition and political vision, 1809-54 -- Ambition -- Political vision -- Moral crisis : 1854 -- The religious roots of moral power -- 2. The power of opinion : Lincoln : the Illinois public and the new political order, 1854-58 -- Lincoln, democratic politics and public opinion -- Illinois public opinion and the anti-Nebraska fusion movement -- The senatorial campaign of 1858 -- 3. The power of party : winning the presidency, 1858-60 -- Presidential ambition : Lincoln, his party and the road to the Decatur convention -- The Republican presidential nomination -- The 1860 presidential campaign : the power of a righteous party -- 4. Confronting the limits of power : from president-elect to war president, 1860-61 -- In the antechamber to power : holding the party line -- From Springfield to Sumter : building a united front -- Strategies for 'a people's war' -- 'What shall I do? The people are impatient ... ' -- 5. The purposes of power : evolving objectives, 1861-65 -- Reading the public -- 'Every indispensable means' : toward the Emancipation Proclamation -- Faith and purposes -- Faithfulness of purpose : emancipation, reconstruction and black citizenship -- 6. The instruments of power : coercion and voluntary mobilization, 1861-65 -- Coercion, repression and executive power -- Popular mobilization : the 'power of the right word' and the agency of party -- Popular mobilization : churches and philanthropic organizations -- The Union army as a moral force -- The election of 1864 : 'the second birth of our nation' -- 7. Conclusion : power in death -- Chronology of Lincoln's life.
Summary
A portrait of America's sixteenth president follows Lincoln's life and career during his rise to political power and his years in the White House, arguing that he looked beyond the political system to find support in his struggle to end slavery.
