No series of events has had a more dramatic impact on the course of American history than the Civil War and the emancipation of four million black slaves. In this book Professor Roger Ransom examines the economic and political factors that led to the attempt by Southerners to dissolve the Union in 1860, and the equally determined effort of Northerners to preserve it. Drawing on recent research in economic, political, and social history, Ransom argues that the system of capitalist slavery in the South not only 'caused' the Civil War by producing tensions that could not be resolved by compromise; it also played a crucial role in the outcome of that War by crippling the southern war effort at the same time that emancipation became a unifying issue for the North.
- ISBN13 9780521323437
- Publish Date 29 September 1989
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 1 March 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Cambridge University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 336
- Language English