Dwight Mansburden
03-16-2010, 10:48 PM
Today I finished reading what many call the best one-volume account of the US Civil War, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson, Oxford Press, 1988.
The 900-page book details events leading up to the war beginning with the 1846 Mexican-US war and the pressures of southerners wanting to expand slavery into the newly-acquired territories after 1848...and of northerners wanting to prevent that.
Lots of interesting info in this book. Such as a comparison of slave populations in the US, where import of African slaves was banned after 1807. So, slave owners encouraged slaves to produce large broods of nigglets. But other New World slave economies discouraged slave famblies and imported about 2 bucks for every sheboon sow. The result was in the US the slave population doubled every 26 years while the slave population in other coontries actually decreased over time.
While slavery was illegal in northern states, the US passed a Fugitive Slave Law requiring northern law enforcement agencies to assist southern slave owners in reclaiming their runaway property. This law was not zealously enforced in many jurisdictions...but in 1859 the US Supreme Court upheld the law and subsequently there were many seizures of runaways, some who had been living in the north for 10 to 20 years. This caused a panic and exodus of runaway slaves to Canada...and the population of groids in Ontario rose to 11,000 by 1860. Oh, Canada!
And, there was a good account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 in which Lincoln said: "I am not now nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality." Lincoln wanted to free the slaves then ship them back to Africa or somewhere else. Pursuant to that, about 500 free negroes were sent to colonize one of Haiti's two large islands but most of 'em became Good in short order due to sickness, etc, and a USN ship retrieved the survivors back to the US.
There are many, many other interesting pieces of info in this book...so if you want to get a better understanding of the Civil War and read an interesting chronological account of it, I recommend this book.
The 900-page book details events leading up to the war beginning with the 1846 Mexican-US war and the pressures of southerners wanting to expand slavery into the newly-acquired territories after 1848...and of northerners wanting to prevent that.
Lots of interesting info in this book. Such as a comparison of slave populations in the US, where import of African slaves was banned after 1807. So, slave owners encouraged slaves to produce large broods of nigglets. But other New World slave economies discouraged slave famblies and imported about 2 bucks for every sheboon sow. The result was in the US the slave population doubled every 26 years while the slave population in other coontries actually decreased over time.
While slavery was illegal in northern states, the US passed a Fugitive Slave Law requiring northern law enforcement agencies to assist southern slave owners in reclaiming their runaway property. This law was not zealously enforced in many jurisdictions...but in 1859 the US Supreme Court upheld the law and subsequently there were many seizures of runaways, some who had been living in the north for 10 to 20 years. This caused a panic and exodus of runaway slaves to Canada...and the population of groids in Ontario rose to 11,000 by 1860. Oh, Canada!
And, there was a good account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 in which Lincoln said: "I am not now nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality." Lincoln wanted to free the slaves then ship them back to Africa or somewhere else. Pursuant to that, about 500 free negroes were sent to colonize one of Haiti's two large islands but most of 'em became Good in short order due to sickness, etc, and a USN ship retrieved the survivors back to the US.
There are many, many other interesting pieces of info in this book...so if you want to get a better understanding of the Civil War and read an interesting chronological account of it, I recommend this book.