The American Nation : A History

Abstract

The most dramatic and most momentcus epi- sode in the history of the United States is undoubtedly the Civil War, into which the coun- try slowly drifted for nearly ten years, but which burst out with amazing suddenness and unexpect- From one point of view all the volumes of the American Nation, after the Revolutionary pe- riod, deal with the friction between the North and the South. Hart, Slavery and Abolition (Volume XVI.), specifically discusses the controversy over slavery and anti-slavery. divergences. Smith, Parties and Slavery (American Nation, XVIII.), brings out the political In the first four chapters of this vol- ume, Admiral Chadwick intentionally restates this discussion in the light of the intense sectional rivalry and ,mutual dislike revealed over the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency; and he shows the economic importance of slave-grown products and the significance of the political theory of state — rights at the time of the outbreak. The narrative begins where Professor Smith’s volume leaves off in 1859, with the John Brown raid (chapter v.).