Abolitionist Politics and the Coming of the Civil War

by James Brewer Stewart

Overview

Before the Civil War, slaveholders made themselves into the most powerful, most deeply rooted, and best organized private interest group within the United States. Not only did slavery represent the national economy's second largest capital investment, exceeded only by investment in real estate, but guarantees of its perpetuation were studded throughout the U.S. Constitution. The vast majority of white Americans, in North and South, accepted the institution, and pro-slavery presidents and congressmen consistently promoted its interests. In Abolitionist Politics and the Coming of the Civil War, James Brewer Stewart explains how a small group of radical activists, the abolitionist movement, played a pivotal role in turning American politics against this formidable system. He examines what influence the movement had in creating the political crises that led to civil war and evaluates the extent to which a small number of zealous reformers made a truly significant political difference when demanding that their nation face up to its most excruciating moral problem. In making these assessments, Stewart addresses a series of more specific questions: What were the abolitionists actually up against when seeking the overthrow of slavery and white supremacy? What motivated and sustained them during their long and difficult struggles? What larger historical contexts (religious, social, economic, cultural, and political) influenced their choices and determined their behavior? What roles did extraordinary leaders play in shaping the movement, and what were the contributions of abolitionism's unheralded "foot soldiers"? What factors ultimately determined, for better or worse, the abolitionists' impact on American politics and the realization of their equalitarian goals?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558496354
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	02/06/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Brewer Stewart is James Wallace Professor of History at Macalester College and author of Holy Warriors: Abolitionists and American Slavery and other works on the history of abolitionism.

Table of Contents

Preface     ix
Acknowledgments     xiii
Narratives     1
From Moral Suasion to Political Confrontation: American Abolitionists and the Problem of Resistance, 1831-1861     3
Contexts     33
Modernizing "Difference": The Political Meanings of Color in the Free States, 1776-1840     35
Commitments     59
The Roberts Case, the Easton Family, and the Dynamics of the Abolitionist Movement in Massachusetts, 1776-1870: (co-authored with George R. Price)     61
William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and the Symmetry of Autobiography: Charisma and the Character of Abolitionist Leadership     89
Consequences     111
Joshua Giddings, Antislavery Violence, and the Politics of Congressional Honor     113
The Orator and the Insurrectionist     139
The New Haven Negro College and the Dynamics of Race in New England, 1776-1870     172
Reconsidering the Abolitionists in an Age of Fundamentalist Politics     203
Index     227

What People are Saying About This

Patrick Rael

Abolitionist Politics and the Coming of the Civil War is not simply a useful work that could easily be incorporated into graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on abolitionism and African American history, it is also a statement of the remarkable work and career of one abolitionism's finest modern students.

John Stauffer

Jim Stewart is one of the foremost scholars of American abolitionism and the most astute analyst of the relationship between the abolition movement and party politics. In this remarkably coherent and cohesive volume of essays, he convincingly overturns the idea that the abolitionist movement was largely a white one, as well as the notion that abolitionism was marginal to political parties and did little or nothing to bring about secession and the eventual end of slavery.

Editorial Reviews

"Abolitionist Politics and the Coming of the Civil War is a complete and comprehensive examination of America's early years and its politics regarding slavery . . . A story of how even the smallest minority can set events in motion [Stewart's book] is highly recommended for both American history and black studies collections alike."--Midwest Book Review

"Jim Stewart is one of the foremost scholars of American abolitionism and the most astute analyst of the relationship between the abolition movement and party politics. In this remarkably coherent and cohesive volume of essays, he convincingly overturns the idea that the abolitionist movement was largely a white one, as well as the notion that abolitionism was marginal to political parties and did little or nothing to bring about secession and the eventual end of slavery."--John Stauffer, Harvard University

"Abolitionist Politics and the Coming of the Civil War is not simply a useful work that could easily be incorporated into graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on abolitionism and African American history, it is also a statement of the remarkable work and career of one abolitionism's finest modern students."--Patrick Rael, Bowdoin College

"James Brewer Stewart without much exaggeration may be termed the dean of abolitionist historical studies. . . . Stewart's fondness for his subjects surfaces throughout."--Journal of Southern History

From the Publisher

James Brewer Stewart without much exaggeration may be termed the dean of abolitionist historical studies.... Stewart's fondness for his subjects surfaces throughout.

Journal of Southern History

Abolitionist Politics and the Coming of the Civil War is a complete and comprehensive examination of America's early years and its politics regarding slavery... A story of how even the smallest minority can set events in motion [Stewart's book] is highly recommended for both American history and black studies collections alike.

Midwest Book Review