The Road to Disunion, Vol. II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861

Abstract

It is one of the great questions of American history--why did the Southern states bolt from the Union and help precipitate the Civil War? Now, acclaimed historian William W. Freehling offers a new answer, in the final volume of his monumental history The Road to Disunion. Here is history in the grand manner, a powerful narrative peopled with dozens of memorable portraits, telling this important story with skill and relish. Freehling highlights all the key moments on the road to war, including the violence in Bleeding Kansas, Preston Brooks's beating of Charles Sumner in the Senate chambers, the Dred Scott Decision, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and much more. As Freehling shows, the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked a political crisis, but at first most Southerners took a cautious approach, willing to wait and see what Lincoln would do--especially, whether he would take any antagonistic measures against the South. But at this moment, the extreme fringe in the South took charge, first in South Carolina and Mississippi, but then throughout the lower South, sounding the drum roll for secession.; Indeed, The Road to Disunion is the first book to fully document how this decided minority of Southern hotspurs took hold of the secessionist issue and, aided by a series of fortuitous events, drove the South out of the Union. Freehling provides compelling profiles of the leaders of this movement--many of them members of the South Carolina elite. Throughout the narrative, he evokes a world of fascinating characters and places as he captures the drama of one of America's most important--and least understood--stories. The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Secessionists at Bay, which was hailed as "the most important history of the Old South ever published," this volume concludes a major contribution to our understanding of the Civil War. A compelling, vivid portrait of the final years of the antebellum South, The Road to Disunion will stand as an important history of its subject. Cover -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Maps -- Preface -- Prologue58; Yanceys Rage -- PART I58; BETTER ECONOMIC TIMES GENERATE WORSE DEMOCRATIC DILEMMAS -- 146; Democracy and Despotism44; 1776185458; Road44; Volume I44; Revisited -- 246; Economic Bonanza44; 18501860 -- PART II58; THE CLIMACTIC IDEOLOGICAL FRUSTRATIONS -- 346; James Henry Hammond and the Unsolvable Proslavery Puzzle -- 446; The Three Imperfect Solutions -- 546; The Puzzling Future and the Infuriating Scapegoats -- PART III58; THE CLIMACTIC POLITICAL FRUSTRATIONS -- 646; Bleeding Kansas and Bloody Sumner -- 746; The Scattering of the Ex45;Whigs -- 846; James Buchanans Precarious Election -- 946; The President45;Elect as the Dred Scotts Judge -- 1046; The Climactic Kansas Crisis -- 1146; Caribbean Delusions -- 1246; Reopening the African Slave Trade -- 1346; Reenslaving Free Blacks -- PART IV58; JOHN BROWN AND THREE OTHER MEN COINCIDENTALLY NAMED JOHN -- 1446; John Brown and Violent Invasion -- 1546; John G46; Fee and Religious Invasion -- 1646; John Underwood and Economic Invasion -- 1746; John Clark and Political Invasion -- PART V58; THE ELECTION OF 1860 -- 1846; Yanceys Lethal Abstraction -- 1946; The Democracys Charleston Convention -- 2046; The Democracys Baltimore Convention -- 2146; Suspicious Southerners and Lincolns Election -- PART VI58; SOUTH CAROLINA DARES -- 2246; The States Rights Justification -- 2346; The Motivation -- 2446; The Tactics and Tacticians -- 2546; The Triumph -- Coda58; Did the Coincidence Change History63; -- PART VII58; LOWER SOUTH LANDSLIDE44; UPPER SOUTH STALEMATE -- 2646; Alexander Stephenss Fleeting Moment -- Coda58; Did Stephenss and Hammonds Personalities Change History63; -- 2746; Southwestern Separatists Tactics and Messages -- 2846; Compromise Rejected -- 2946; Military Explosions -- 3046; Snowball Rolling -- 3146; Upper South Stalemate -- 3246; Stalemate8212;and the South8212;Shattered -- Coda58; How Did Slavery Cause the Civil War63; -- Abbreviations Used in Notes -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Last Page.