“Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling: America’s Historic Legacy

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The book that needs to be reviewed is “Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling. The book has gained huge popularity among historians by its explicit description of the origins of the Civil War in the United States.

It has to be said that the book itself arouses controversial feelings towards the history of the beginning of the twentieth century. However, it is evident that the plot is convincing and fresh. There is no limit to perfection; therefore, we can hardly stop the historical researches and the search of the essence and the grounds of all the historical events that humanity has been through. Hence, the works of William Freehling represent a valuable historical and scientific heritage. There is much more that can be added to praise this author, including awards that he has got: the Allan Nevins History Prize and a Bancroft Prize – which happen to be the most prestigious ones on the planet.

From now on all scholars and simply school students can commonly use “Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling for the sake of knowledge and learning since the events discussed in this book and the entire writing work was carried out at the ultimate working capacity. This is why the piece o literature under consideration is so important for antebellum learning.

The book tells us about the Nullification Controversy in South Carolina. Namely, being brief, the author outlined the main characteristics of the society of those days, it’s being excited, unrest, and disturbed. Since ‘the development of South Carolina coastal plantation constitutes one of the great epics in American economic history’(Freehling, 9) its descriptions were truly amazing, vivid, and compelling. William Freehling also described explicitly the fall of aristocratic society down to an almost rural way of life. The planters of the Palmetto State who were definitely used to prosperous life of very sophisticated taste, as well as going to the balls and drinking fine Madeira wine were forced by the life circumstances to tumble to a plain life.

This entailed such consequences as obtaining a completely different and newly accepted form of life. Many of the planters experienced economic distress, and slavery was a significant issue of controversy, they ended up having a hard time with guilt over slavery. Of course, even though at those times the society of whites still was stronger and more stable, they started to fear the rebellions of slaves.

The split between the two parts of America the South and the North was very close. The preconditions were the following: the political leaders saw another side of the medal – another face of fortune that led them to the way of life they would never think of. Hence, unbelievably in 1832, they wanted to nullify federal law by merely ignoring and disobeying it. As the result, the secession took place in the historical background o America.

As the book’s plot unfolds, we may meet such characters as John C. Calhoun (1782 – 1850) U.S. politician. A South Carolina Democrat, he served as U.S. vice president 1825 – 1832. He was noted as a champion of states’ rights and slavery.

He was among those people who wanted the nullification to save slavery and his priority – union. Therefore, it has to be mentioned that the historical figure of the President

Andrew Jackson is also described very vividly, as he was the one to threaten Calhoun to hang him and to direct the federal troops to South Carolina. These and other figures appear in the book “Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling in order to tell the history, sometimes they seem to speak up themselves, and make it understandable why the US was so deeply involved in such an awful war, known as the Civil War, and the most terrible war of the twentieth century for the United States of America. This war, however, protected the rights of “… animate property, he could be compelled to work, and his offspring belonged absolutely to the master”. (Fehrenbacher, p 7.)

In order to explain the prelude of the Civil War that took place in America, the author gathers different historians’ opinions, though still stressing on his own one. The author clearly demonstrates how the awareness of the shadowy slavery and economic problems led to the Nullification Controversy. Also, another issue touched upon by William Freehling needs to be noted: the need of South Carolina’s leaders to prohibit any public discussions about slavery due to the fears of abolitionists and their lobbying power in Congress.

So, to conclude, Freehling’s thesis is hardly incomprehensive: the growing excitement over the “peculiar situation” brought the nation to the aggressive states rights posture acquired during the nullification crisis which was a war reaction to the tariff, though South California inhabitants were as much guilty in their economic instability as the “Tariff of Abominations.”

In general, the book bears a very important role in the historical upbringing of the American nation. It helps students understand the reasons for slavery rebellions and why the contemporarily united society was so split during those days of the horror war between the South and the North.

Bibliography

Fehrenbacher , Don E. Slavery, Law, and Politics: The Dred Scott Case in Historical Perspective. Oxford University Press, Inc., 1981. Print.

Freehling , W. Prelude to the Civil War.Oxford University Press, 1992. Print.

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“Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling: America’s Historic Legacy

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