Decade of Disunion: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War, 1849-1861

by Robert W. Merry Narrated by Jacques Roy

Overview

Exploring a critical lesson about our nation that is as timely today as ever, Decade of Disunion shows how the country came apart during the enveloping slavery crisis of the 1850s.

The Mexican War brought vast new territories to the United States, which precipitated a growing crisis over slavery. The new territories seemed unsuitable for the type of agriculture that depended on slave labor, but they lay south of the line where slavery was permitted by the 1820 Missouri Compromise. The subject of expanding slavery to the new territories became a flash point between North and South.

First came the 1850 compromise legislation, which strengthened the fugitive slave law and outraged the North. Then in 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise altogether, unleashing a violent conflict in “Bleeding Kansas” over whether that territory would become free or slave. The 1857 Dred Scott decision-abrogating any rights of African Americans, enslaved or free-further outraged the North. And John Brown's ill-planned 1859 attack at the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry stirred anger and fear throughout the South.

Through a decade, South Carolina, whose economy depended heavily on slave labor, struggled over whether to secede in a stand-alone act of defiance or to do so only in conjunction with other states. Meanwhile, Massachusetts became the country's antislavery epicenter but debated whether the Constitution was worth saving in the effort to abolish bondage. Both states widened the divide between North and South until disunion became inevitable. Then, in December 1860, in the wake of the Lincoln election, South Carolina finally seceded, leading the South out of the Union.

Beginning with the deaths of the great second-generation figures of American history-Calhoun, Webster, and Clay-Decade of Disunion tells the story of this great American struggle through the aims, fears, and maneuvers of the subsequent prominent figures at the center of the drama, with particular attention to the key players from Massachusetts and South Carolina.

This history is a sobering reminder that democracy is not self-sustaining-it must be constantly and carefully tended.

Editorial Reviews

James M. McPherson James M. McPherson

Robert Merry traces how the polarities of opinion in Massachusetts and South Carolina toward the future of slavery and the nation impelled an increasingly Disunited States step by step toward breakup and war. An outstanding feature of this book is the vivid portraits of leading personalities in these radically dissimilar states who became emblematic of this process. A valuable contribution to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War.

H. W. Brands

With his characteristic energy and elegance, Robert Merry traces America’s path to civil war during the tumultuous 1850s. This is political history at its most riveting—and most instructive, with a powerful reminder that our democracy is what we make of it, for better or worse.

Washington Post - Richard Kreitner

Merry, a master of the two-page pen portrait, shows how clashes between politicians within the states were often as fierce as the larger struggle between North and South, and he gives a fresh introduction to the characters at the heart of the story.

Jon Meacham

With characteristic wisdom and grace, Robert W. Merry takes us back to critical hours in the history of American democracy, shedding new light on ancient questions that are, alas, urgent once more. To revisit how we fell apart in the nineteenth century can help us see the crises of the twenty-first more clearly.”

Wall Street Journal - Roger Lowenstein

"A vast, rich canvas, which [Merry] enlivens with sharp profiles of leading players. . . . Unusually for a book of such wingspan, Decade of Disunion consistently holds our attention with vivid, close-in detail. . . . [A] thoughtful and accomplished history."

Library Journal

★ 06/28/2024

After the deaths of South Carolina's John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) and Massachusetts's Daniel Webster (1782–1852), enslavement opinions hardened in both states. Historian/journalist Merry (President McKinley: Architect of the American Century) notes these differences originated during the colonies' founding. His book shows that in Massachusetts, a Puritan ethic informed the state's opposition to enslavement and calls for abolition. South Carolina pursued high profits from enslaved labor and intensive crops. As old guard unionist politicians receded from their professional lives, their influence in tamping down calls for resistance to enslavement and secession became less effective. Fiery newspaper editors decried enslavement and the system that supported it in increasingly forceful tones. Meanwhile, fiery South Carolina politicians—Robert Barnwell Rhett, James Henry Hammond, and more—advocated for secession to protect their investments in enslavement. Frequently these two views came into open conflict, most notably in 1856 when South Carolina enslavement proponent Rep. Preston Brooks used a walking cane to brutally attack Massachusetts abolitionist Charles Sumner in the U.S. Senate chamber. VERDICT Based on extensive primary research, this detailed case study will magnetize readers interested in U.S. Civil War history and politics.—Chad E. Statler

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2024-02-10
A noted historian demonstrates how the vastly different cultures, attitudes, and mores of Massachusetts and South Carolina brought about secession and war.

Former journalist and editor Merry, author of President McKinley and A Country of Vast Designs, presents a sweeping, invaluable history of the long prelude to the Civil War, examining the wildly disparate political, economic, and social development of Massachusetts and South Carolina—the two states that most exemplified what would become irreconcilable differences over slavery—and the words and deeds of their representatives who failed to come to a resolution and prevent the onset of war. The author capably compares the austere, judgmental Puritanism of the agriculture and merchant classes of early Massachusetts with the Anglicans who bought huge tracts of land to boost their proprietary colonies and imported the culture of the sugar plantations of Barbados and the West Indies. Merry also contrasts the two states as embodied by their famed representatives, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and John Calhoun of South Carolina, who, along with Henry Clay, formed the “so-called Great Triumvirate.” Always maintaining a readable style, the author skillfully analyzes the complex political and social motivations and influences of what Calhoun called "the great battle" to resolve the impasse between the regions. As in his previous acclaimed books, Merry employs consistently thorough and crisp prose, combining his best attributes as a journalist and historian. The author’s deft organization of the narrative and inclusion of generous excerpts of debates and speeches from a variety of sources—great figures from Massachusetts, South Carolina, and elsewhere, in addition to noted abolitionists and proslavery journalists and orators of the era—is extraordinarily useful to readers no matter their level of familiarity with this particular period of American history.

An essential volume for serious students of U.S. history, especially Civil War buffs.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160443768
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	07/23/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos