Latest

Jun
23
Power and the Proviso

Power and the Proviso

To the considerable annoyance of President James K. Polk, in 1846 a freshman Pennsylvania House Democrat named David Wilmot introduced
3 min read
Jun
16
The 'Lords of the Loom' Try to Hold the Union Together

The 'Lords of the Loom' Try to Hold the Union Together

In December 1860, panic began to ensue in industrial Massachusetts as trade between the North and the South ground to
5 min read
Jun
09
Mythologizing Lincoln, Then and Now

Mythologizing Lincoln, Then and Now

Although both the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Illinois state constitution prohibited slavery, that didn't stop some
3 min read
Jun
02
Montgomery's "Conversational Parliament" Reveals Confederate Divisions Off the Bat

Montgomery's "Conversational Parliament" Reveals Confederate Divisions Off the Bat

Jefferson Davis was elected Confederate president in 1861 even though said he'd prefer a military assignment. Other Southern
6 min read
May
27
North British Origins of Backcountry Violence

North British Origins of Backcountry Violence

When Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts senseless with his cane, banker and
4 min read
May
19
Southerners Warily Follow a Copperhead's Moves

Southerners Warily Follow a Copperhead's Moves

Historian Frank L. Klement wrote The Limits of Dissent: Clement L. Vallandigham and the Civil War during the Vietnam War,
2 min read
May
12
'Negrophobia' in the Antebellum North

'Negrophobia' in the Antebellum North

Historian C. Vann Woodward wrote in his classic book The Strange Career of Jim Crow that one "of the
4 min read
May
05
Why the Confederates Banned the African Slave Trade

Why the Confederates Banned the African Slave Trade

One of the more counterintuitive features of the Confederate Constitution is that, unlike the original U.S. Consitution, it enshrined
5 min read
Apr
27
Do Wars Settle Constitutional Questions?

Do Wars Settle Constitutional Questions?

So far we've been looking at Southern fire-eaters like Edmund Ruffin and Robert Barnwell Rhett – and their fiery
4 min read
Apr
20
Britain's Near-Intervention in the   American Civil War

Britain's Near-Intervention in the American Civil War

One of the most intriguing "what ifs" of the Civil War concerns how differently things might have gone
5 min read