The question of the importance of sustaining the union has been ably analyzed by Liz Varon, in her excellent book DISUNION! THE COMING OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1789-1859 (University of North Carolina Press, 2010). I have to confess I read the book for my own research purposes, and so focused much more on the early sections than on the later. But its superbly done, and is very much on point for exploring the central importance of union in the rhetoric of American politics prior to the Civil War.
___________________________
Kevin R. Hardwick
Associate Professor
Department of History, MSC 8001
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Stephan Schwartz [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 1:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Peculiar Institution's End Without The Intervention Of The Civil War
Ron Roisen's point is a very important one: Why did the North care so much
about preserving the Union? The answer, I think, is that geopolitically war
would have been inevitable in any case, and that this was understood by
enough people to shape the Northern position. Competition for the West
would have created inevitable and chronic conflict draining both nations,
and the drive of black people to escape to the North would have done the
same. And there would have come a day when there was a black uprising, as
happened in South Africa, and the North could not have stood idly by. As
the world moved into the industrialized form it took after the Civil War
anyway the South would have become an increasingly bizarre and distorted
national entity in constant conflict internally and externally. A pariah
state, and a bleeding sore along the long border between North and South,
wherever that fell.
-- Stephan
On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 2:26 PM, Ron Roizen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> With apologies for the drift off-topic:
>
> The question that I've never seen a good answer for is why the North cared
> so very much about maintaining the Union. Why not simply rid itself of a
> troublesome South in the same way the South was attempting to rid itself of
> a troublesome North? The spirit of the U.S. Constitution was federalist,
> to
> be sure, but nothing in the Constitution specifically forbade secession.
> Nations like to stay big in order to stave off foreign threats, but it
> doesn't seem likely that this factor played much of a role in prompting the
> Civil War. Anyhow, the North and the South might have collaborated in
> fighting off, for example, a European foe. "A house divided itself" is a
> nice metaphor but little more. The land mass or the North American
> continent certainly could have provided room for four nations instead of
> only three. The Union might have had concerns that issues relating to
> western expansion and settlement would grow more and more unfriendly and
> contentious once the North and the South became two independent nations.
> But those conflicts might have been addressed as they arose and resolved
> with compromises or tradeoffs that did not require war. The Union seems to
> have felt that the wholeness of the nation, comprising both South and
> North,
> was some sort of sacred promise or bond. But I've never seen much
> discussion of how this belief was constructed or its history-of-ideas
> origins. Slavery and abolition were of course hot issues, but abolition
> didn't become a war objective for the North until well into the war with
> the
> Emancipation Proclamation. It just seems so much easier, at the outset,
> for
> the North to have bid the South ado and leave it at that. Yet, and of
> course, the North fought with such passion and determination that the idea
> of union must have had a much stronger grasp on its soul than I've managed
> to understand.
>
> Efforts by Listmates to educate me a little on this point would be more
> than
> welcome.
>
> Ron Roizen
> Wallace, Idaho
>
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--
*Stephan A. Schwartz
Senior Samueli Fellow for Brain, Mind and Healing
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