Conflict and Compromise: The Political Economy of Slavery, Emancipation and the American Civil War - Softcover

Ransom, Roger L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521311675 ISBN 13: 9780521311670

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1989

Synopsis

No series of events had a more dramatic impact on the course of American history than the Civil War and the emancipation of four million slaves. This book examines the economic and political factors that led to the attempt by Southerners to dissolve the Union in 1860 and the equally determined effort of Northerners to preserve it. A central thesis of the book is that slavery not only "caused" the Civil War by producing tensions that could not be resolved by compromise; the slave system also played a crucial role in the outcome of the war by crippling the Southern war effort at the same time that emancipation became a unifying cause for the North. The author looks at a century of sectional conflict over slavery and reveals a great irony of the American Civil War. The South suffered a bitter defeat in a war to protect the institution of slavery, even though it is likely that the Constitution of the United States offered the best protection for a slave system. And, despite the abolition of slavery in the United States, equality for Black Americans remained a distant dream.

About this title

Book Description

An examination of the economic and political factors that led to the attempt by Southerners to dissolve the Union in 1860 and the equally determined effort of Northerners to preserve it.

From the Back Cover

No series of events has had a more dramatic impact on the course of American history than the Civil War and the emancipation of four million black slaves. In this book Professor Roger Ransom examines the economic and political factors that led to the attempt by Southerners to dissolve the union in 1860, and the equally determined effort of Northerners to preserve it.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0521311675
• ISBN 13: 9780521311670
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336