Wolf by the Ears: The Missouri Crisis, 1819–1821

Wolf by the Ears: The Missouri Crisis, 1819–1821
ISBN-10
1421416530
ISBN-13
9781421416533
Series
Wolf by the Ears
Category
History
Pages
199
Language
English
Published
2015-05-15
Publisher
JHU Press
Author
John R. Van Atta

Description

The first organized Louisiana Purchase territory to lie completely west of the Mississippi River and northwest of the Ohio, Missouri carried special significance for both pro- and anti-slavery advocates. Northern congressmen leaped out of their seats to object to the proposed expansion of the slave 'empire,' while slave-state politicians voiced outrage at the Northerners' blatant sectional attack. Although the Missouri confrontation ultimately appeared to end amicably with a famous compromise that the wily Kentuckian Henry Clay helped to cobble together, the passions it unleashed proved vicious, widespread, and long lasting. Van Atta deftly explains how the Missouri crisis revealed the power that slavery had already gained over American nation building. He explores the external social, cultural, and economic forces that gave the confrontation such urgency around the country, as well as the beliefs, assumptions, and fears that characterized both sides of the slavery argument.

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