The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern succession. Now available in a new edition, The Impending Crisis remains one of the most celebrated works of American historical writing. |
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Contents
1 | |
2 | |
18 | |
51 | |
63 | |
THE ARMISTICE OF 1850 | 90 |
FIREEATERS FUGITIVES AND FINALITY | 121 |
Millard Fillmore | 141 |
A page from the American AntiSlavery Almanac 28 John Brown | 270 |
Argument versus Clubs | 270 |
Abraham Lincoln 32 Stephen A Douglas | 270 |
Cloth banner promoting the Republican ticket 1860 | 270 |
ProLincoln political cartoon 35 Steven A Douglas Patriot 36 A Secession Movement | 270 |
James Buchanan Judas 38 J C Breckinridge Traitor 39 Poster announcing an AntiSlavery Meeting | 270 |
We Go for the Union 41 Announcement of South Carolinas secession on the front page of the Charleston Mercury December 20 1860 | 270 |
The Sharps Rifle 43 Fort Sumter after the first shelling 44 On to Liberty | 270 |
A RAILROAD PROMOTION AND ITS SEQUEL | 145 |
THE EBB TIDE OF MANIFEST DESTINY | 177 |
The Polk family | 196 |
Two WARS IN KANSAS | 199 |
THE POLITICAL PARTIES IN METAMORPHOSIS | 225 |
DRED SCOTT AND THE LAW OF THE LAND | 267 |
San Procopio Retablo by an unknown native New Mexican artist 6 Justices Court in the Backwoods 7 Cider Mill | 270 |
Implements used in warfare during the 1850s 9 Mexican News | 270 |
John Charles Fremont 11 Characters of San Francisco 1854 | 270 |
Land ownership certificate enabling freestater Edward E Hale to vote in Kansas 14 Slavestaters voting in Kansas | 270 |
Freestaters in Kansas readying their cannon 16 Ruins of the Free State Hotel Lawrence | 270 |
William Henry Seward 18 The United States Senate 1850 | 270 |
Scene from Uncle Toms Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 25 Antislavery handbill 26 Harriet Beecher Stowe | 270 |
Maps and Charts The KansasNebraska Act 1854 166 | 271 |
THE DESCENT GROWS STEEPER | 297 |
LINCOLN DOUGLAS AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF SLAVERY | 328 |
A REVOLUTION THAT FAILED | 356 |
SOUTHERN MANEUVERS ON THE EVE OF CONFLICT | 385 |
THE ELECTION OF 1860 | 405 |
THE NATURE OF SOUTHERN SEPARATISM | 448 |
THE LOWER SOUTH SECEDES | 485 |
WINTER CRISIS | 514 |
END AND BEGINNING | 555 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 584 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 622 |
Other editions - View all
The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861 David M. Potter No preview available - 1977 |
The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861 David M. Potter No preview available - 1977 |
The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861 David M. Potter No preview available - 1977 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionists administration adopted amendment American antislavery bill Boston Buchanan Calhoun campaign candidate Cass Committee Compromise of 1850 Conflict Cong Congress Congressional Globe Constitution contest convention crisis Crittenden Cuba debate decision defeat delegates disunion doctrine Douglas Dred Scott election fact federal Fillmore force Fort Sumter free-soil free-state Fugitive Slave Georgia governor Henry historians History House Ibid Illinois issue James James Buchanan John Brown Kansas Kansas-Nebraska Act Know-Nothing later Lecompton Lecompton constitution legislature Louisiana majority Mexico Mississippi Missouri Compromise nativist Negro Nevins Nichols nomination North northern Democrats organization percent Pierce political Polk popular sovereignty president presidential proslavery railroad Republican resolutions Robert Robert Toombs secession Secession Movement secessionists sectional Senate sess session Seward slaveholders slavery slavery question Soulé South Carolina southern speech Stephen Sumter Supreme Court Taylor territorial Texas tion Toombs Union Unionist United Virginia vols vote voters Walker Washington Whig party William Wilmot Proviso York