Contents
List of Maps
Editor’s Foreword
Preface
Introduction
1. An American Experiment in Democracy
Growing pains
The struggle for stability
South Carolina and the Nullification Crisis, 1831–33
Conclusion
2. The South and Its Peculiar Institution
The rise of slavery
The growth of southern sectionalism
A southern ‘civilization’?
3. Sectional Tensions Resolved, 1840–50
The rise of anti-slavery politics
The Wilmot Proviso
The Compromise of 1850
4. Sectional Tensions Unsolved, 1850–58
The rise of the Republican Party
The Dred Scott decision
The threat of the slave power
The slump of 1857
‘Political crisis’ or war?
5. Anticipations of War, 1858–60
How men felt
Thinking about war
How men acted
John Brown’s raid, 1859
6. The Year of Decision: 1860
The Democratic Convention
The Republican Convention
The presidential campaign
The aftermath
7. The Secession Crisis: Southern Challenges, Norther Responses
Forming the Lincoln Administration
Southern secession: the first phase
The secession movement
Southern opinion
Efforts at compromise
The failure of compromise
The Montgomery convention
Lincoln’s first inaugural address
8. The Final Crisis: Fort Sumter
The political context
The problem of interpretation
Space
Time
Direction
Resolution
Southern secession: the second phase
Concluding reflections
9. The Origins of a Punitive Civil War: Why Did the War Not Spread?
The secession crisis: the third phase
The problem of slavery
The making of the Emancipation Proclamation
The illusions of the South
Anglo-American crises and their resolution, 1861–62
Conclusion
Bibliography
Maps
Index