Calculating the value of the Union : slavery, property rights, and the economic origins of the Civil War / James L. Huston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Huston, James L., 1947-

Series:

Civil War America.

Civil War America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--Economic aspects--United States--History.

Slavery.

Right of property--United States--History.

Right of property.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Causes.

United States.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Economic aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (413 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

While slavery is often at the heart of debates over the causes of the Civil War, historians are not agreed on precisely what aspect of slavery--with its various social, economic, political, cultural, and moral ramifications--gave rise to the sectional rift. In Calculating the Value of the Union, James Huston integrates economic, social, and political history to argue that the issue of property rights as it pertained to slavery was at the center of the Civil War.In the early years of the nineteenth century, southern slaveholders sought a national definition of property rights

Contents:

Cover; Contents; Preface; Part I. The Themes of Slavery and Property Rights, 1776-1860; 1. Slavery, Property Rights, and the American Revolution; 2. The Origins of Slaveholder Aggressiveness; 3. Free Labor and the Competition of Slaves; 4. The Antislavery Debate over Property Rights; 5. The Constitutionality of Slavery Prohibition in the Territories; Part II. The Political Realignment of the 1850's; 6. The Politics of Southern Upheaval, 1846-1853; 7. The Northern Realignment, 1854-1860; Afterword; Appendix A. A Theory of Political Realignment; Appendix B. Graphing U.S. Politics, 1840-1860

Appendix C. State and Congressional Elections Used in Figures 6.1, 7.1, and B.1-10 Appendix D. Number of Cases for Regions in Average Vote in Elections Used for Figures 6.1, 7.1, and B.1-10; Notes; Sources; Index;

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-385) and index.

ISBN:

9798890877499

9780807861684

0807861685

OCLC:

56356660