Slavery, Capitalism and Politics in the Antebellum Republic

by John Ashworth

• ISBN13: 9780521713696
• ISBN10: 0521713692
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book asks why the United States experienced a civil war in 1861 and analyses the descent into war in the final decade of peace. The book systematically surveys southern extremists, Republicans, Democrats, Whigs, temperance advocates and Know Nothings. It advances a new and unique explanation of the origins of the Civil War, the most important event in the history of the most powerful country in the world.

Author Biography

John Ashworthis currently Professor of American History in the School of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Explaining the Civil War (1)	p. 1
Slavery versus Antislavery
Combating the weaknesses of slavery: Southern militants, 1850-1861	p. 13
Introduction: The weaknesses of slavery	p. 13
The Compromise of 1850 and its legacy	p. 17
Triumph of the southern Democrats: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854	p. 45
Crisis in Kansas, 1854-1858	p. 63
The weaknesses of slavery (1): Free blacks	p. 76
The weaknesses of slavery (2): Nonslaveholding whites	p. 82
The weaknesses of slavery (3): Slaves	p. 96
The southern economy	p. 104
Crisis in the Democratic party and in the nation, 1857-1860	p. 111
Secession and war: 1860-1861	p. 128
Conclusion	p. 167
The antislavery challenge: The Republicans, 1854-1861	p. 173
Introduction: The Republican party	p. 173
Democratic antecedents	p. 176
Whig antecedents	p. 205
Slavery and morality	p. 234
Republicans and the Slave Power	p. 244
Republicans and capitalism	p. 265
Secession and war, 1860-1861	p. 303
Conclusion	p. 329
Polarisation and Collapse
The disintegration of Democratic hegemony: Northern Democrats and their southern allies, 1850-1861	p. 339
Introduction: The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1)	p. 339
Democracy, the nation, and the Democratic party	p. 344
A constricted universalism: Race and ethnicity	p. 354
State's rights and limited government	p. 369
Territorial expansion: Extending the area of freedom (and slavery)	p. 384
Slavery and antislavery	p. 399
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (2): Popular sovereignty	p. 417
Democrats and the economy	p. 436
Secession and war, 1860-1861	p. 457
Conclusion	p. 466
Political realignment: Collapse of the Whigs and neo-Whigs, 1848-1861	p. 471
Introduction: Whiggery, neo-Whiggery and their discontents	p. 471
The Whigs, 1848-1852	p. 476
Temperance	p. 494
Nativism: The Know Nothings	p. 515
Collapse of the Whigs and the Know Nothings, 1852-1856	p. 544
Realignment completed, 1857-1860	p. 579
The Constitutional Union party	p. 592
Secession and war, 1860-1861	p. 606
Conclusion	p. 624
Conclusion: Explaining the Civil War (2)	p. 628
A review of some major works on the reasons for Confederate defeat	p. 651
Index	p. 673
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