Slavery, Capitalism and Politics in the Antebellum Republic
Slavery, Capitalism and Politics in the Antebellum Republic
The second and concluding volume of Professor Ashworth's study of American antebellum politics, this book offers an exciting new interpretation of the origins of the Civil War. The volume deals with the politics of the 1850s and with the plunge into civil war. Professor Ashworth offers a new way of understanding the conflict between North and South and shows how northern free labor increasingly came into conflict with southern slavery as a result of both changes in the northern economy and the structural weaknesses of slavery.
- Offers a fresh interpretation of the origins of the Civil War, the most important event in the history of the US
- Full treatment of all the major participants in the politics of the 1850s - Democrats, southern militants, Whigs, Republicans, etc.
- Based on extensive research and a thorough knowledge of the vast number of secondary works
Reviews & endorsements
"John Ashworth’s explanation of the coming of the Civil War is intellectually attractive, structurally elaborate, and inadequately elaborated for so ambitious a book." -Lawrence T. McDonnell, The Journal of American History
"...a comprehensive, almost encyclopedic, examination of political ideology from Andrew Jackson's presidency to the firing on Fort Sumter." -James L. Huston, The Journal of Southern History
Product details
December 2008Adobe eBook Reader
9780511389115
0 pages
0kg
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- Part I. Slavery versus Antislavery:
- 1. Combating the weaknesses of slavery: Southern militants, 1850–1861
- 2. The antislavery challenge: the Republicans, 1854–1861
- Part II. Polarisation and Collapse:
- 3. The disintegration of democratic hegemony: northern and national Democrats, 1850–1861
- 4. Political realignment: collapse of the Whigs and neo-Whigs, 1848–1861
- Conclusion: explaining the Civil War (II).
