Umfang:
1 online resource (373 pages)
ISBN:
9780807861684
Inhalt:
While slavery is often at the heart of debates over the causes of the Civil War, historians are not agreed on precisely what aspect of slavery--with its various social, economic, political, cultural, and moral ramifications--gave rise to the sectional rift. In Calculating the Value of the Union, James Huston integrates economic, social, and political history to argue that the issue of property rights as it pertained to slavery was at the center of the Civil War.In the early years of the nineteenth century, southern slaveholders sought a national definition of property rights that would recognize and protect their ownership of slaves. Northern interests, on the other hand, opposed any national interpretation of property rights because of the threat slavery posed to the northern free labor market, particularly if allowed to spread to western territories. This impasse sparked a process of political realignment that culminated in the creation of the Republican Party, ultimately leading to the secession crisis.Deeply researched and carefully written, this study rebuts recent trends in antebellum historiography and persuasively argues for a fundamentally economic interpretation of the slavery issue and the coming of the Civil War.
Inhalt:
Cover Page -- Calculating the Value of the Union -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Tables -- Figures -- Preface -- PART ONE: THE THEMES OF SLAVERY AND PROPERTY RIGHTS, 1776-1860 -- 1 Slavery, Property Rights, and the American Revolution -- 2 The Origins of Slaveholder Aggressiveness -- 3 Free Labor and the Competition of Slaves -- 4 The Antislavery Debate over Property Rights -- 5 The Constitutionality of Slavery Prohibition in the Territories -- PART TWO: THE POLITICAL REALIGNMENT OF THE 1850S -- 6 The Politics of Southern Upheaval, 1846-1853 -- 7 The Northern Realignment, 1854-1860 -- Afterword -- Appendix A: A Theory of Political Realignment -- Appendix B: Graphing U.S. Politics, 1840-1860 -- Appendix C: State and Congressional Elections Used in Figures 6.1, 7.1, and B.1-10 -- Appendix D: Number of Cases for Regions in Average Vote in Elections Used for Figures 6.1, 7.1, and B.1-10 -- Notes -- Sources -- Index.
Anmerkung:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources
Weitere Ausg.:
ISBN 9780807828045
Weitere Ausg.:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe ISBN 9780807828045
Sprache:
Englisch
URL:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kxp/detail.action?docID=834238
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