The Stormy Present

Conservatism and the Problem of Slavery in Northern Politics, 1846–1865

Adam I. P. Smith

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781469659084
  9781469633893
• eBook ISBN:
  9781469633909
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

In this engaging and nuanced political history of Northern communities in the Civil War era, Adam I. P. Smith offers a new interpretation of the familiar story of the path to war and ultimate victory. Smith looks beyond the political divisions between abolitionist Republicans and Copperhead Democrats to consider the everyday conservatism that characterized the majority of Northern voters. A sense of ongoing crisis in these Northern states created anxiety and instability, which manifested in a range of social and political tensions in individual communities.

In the face of such realities, Smith argues that a conservative impulse was more than just a historical or nostalgic tendency; it was fundamental to charting a path to the future. At stake for Northerners was their conception of the Union as the vanguard in a global struggle between democracy and despotism, and their ability to navigate their freedoms through the stormy waters of modernity. As a result, the language of conservatism was peculiarly, and revealingly, prominent in Northern politics during these years. The story this book tells is of conservative people coming, in the end, to accept radical change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: The Dogmas of the Quiet Past
• Chapter One: Barricades on Broadway: Mobs and the Problem of Revolution in American Politics
• Chapter Two: Order and the Problem of Law: Fugitive Slaves and the Constitution
• Chapter Three: Storm over Kansas: Slavery Expansion and the Problem of Violence
• Chapter Four: An Engine for Freedom: Popular Sovereignty and Political Convergence
• Chapter Five: Fear on the Campaign Trail: The Election of 1860
• Chapter Six: The Essence of Anarchy: Secession and the War against Slaveholders
• Chapter Seven: How a Conservative People Conducted a Long War
• Conclusion: After the Storm
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index