The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War [Hardcover]

Michael F. Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2004

How partisan politics lead to the Civil War

What brought about the Civil War? Leading historian Michael F. Holt convincingly offers a disturbingly contemporary answer: partisan politics. In this brilliant and succinct book, Holt distills a lifetime of scholarship to demonstrate that secession and war did not arise from two irreconcilable economies any more than from moral objections to slavery. Short-sighted politicians were to blame. Rarely looking beyond the next election, the two dominant political parties used the emotionally charged and largely chimerical issue of slavery's extension westward to pursue reelection and settle political scores, all the while inexorably dragging the nation towards disunion.

Despite the majority opinion (held in both the North and South) that slavery could never flourish in the areas that sparked the most contention from 1845 to 1861-the Mexican Cession, Oregon, and Kansas-politicians in Washington, especially members of Congress, realized the partisan value of the issue and acted on short-term political calculations with minimal regard for sectional comity. War was the result.

Including select speeches by Lincoln and others, The Fate of Their Country openly challenges us to rethink a seminal moment in America's history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

University of Virginia historian Holt (The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party) provides an elegant, brief analysis of the partisan political forces that, via the great debate over the extension of slavery into the American West, eventually plunged the United States into civil war. Holt discounts the view that the war arose inevitably from two irreconcilable economies as well as the more naïve interpretation that it derived from righteous Northern outrage over slavery. Instead he argues that shortsighted and self-absorbed politicians from both the South and the North (their agendas focused, for the most part, on simple re-election) needlessly exploited the slavery-extension debate and escalated the associated rhetoric to a crescendo that finally made disunion inevitable. Holt provides brilliant thumbnail portraits of such key players as Abraham Lincoln, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, James K. Polk, Daniel Webster and Stephen A. Douglas. He also offers vitally lucid analyses of such key legislative issues as the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Stating his case in a nutshell, Holt writes, "At few other times in American history did policy makers' decisions have such a profound—and calamitous—effect on the nation as they did in the 1840s and 1850s." 8 pages of b&w illus. not seen by PW; map.
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Review

"Michael Holt’s fascinating study of partisan politics and the territorial slavery issue shows again why he is one of America’s finest pre-civil war historians." --William W. Freehling, author of The South vs. The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War

"Michael Holt has distilled a lifetime of scholarship in this impressive account of America's greatest political crisis. There is no better introduction to the intricate yet explosive politics of the 1850s." --Harry Watson, author of Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America

"Michael Holt has written a superb account of the nation's decent into Civil War. A skilled political historian, he focuses on the decisions that political leaders made, their arousal of the most divisive passions, and their loss of control of a system present in American life." --Joel H. Silbey, author of Martin Van Buren and the Emergence of American Popular Politics

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1 edition (August 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809095181
• ISBN-13: 978-0809095186
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to a misunderstood topic, November 27, 2004

By 

Thomas Woods (Auburn, AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War (Hardcover)

In The Fate of Their Country, Professor Holt skillfully and helpfully clarifies the vexed question of slavery extension, a controversy that played an important role in dividing North and South and setting the stage for war.

This is a relatively short book, and for a reason: Professor Holt wishes to acquaint a larger audience with some of the important issues that he has covered at greater length in some of his other work. Hence this accessible introduction.

What I find so interesting about the book is that it shows rather convincingly that debates over slavery extension were often not about slavery per se. The question of extending slavery into the territories became an issue of Southern honor: whether or not Southerners actually wanted to bring slaves into, say, New Mexico Territory (none were there by 1860), the issue became a matter of principle between sections of the country that had been so often at odds in the past.

The insistence upon slavery's extension into the territories was often a matter of saving face for the South rather than (necessarily) a matter of actually desiring to bring slaves there, particularly since neither North nor South seriously expected slavery to take root in most of the places over which they argued at such length.

Moreover, the subject of slavery extension came to symbolize all the differences between North and South, including controversies over the tariff, a homestead bill, internal improvement legislation, and the like.

Professor Holt is certainly not saying that slavery played no role whatever in the coming of the Civil War. But the issue has often been misunderstood, and it is Holt's aim to provide the reader with the evidence and the historical background he needs to understand the context in which slavery extension was debated. He concludes that irresponsible politicians, for their own narrow partisan advantage, all too often exploited the issue for demagogic purposes, with (ultimately) tragic consequences. A superb book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story of Politicians and the Affect of their Actions, September 19, 2005

By 

David W. Southworth (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War (Paperback)

This short book by Michael Holt is the story of politics in America leading up to the Civil War. On the one hand, Holt makes a convincing argument that political leaders between 1820 and 1860 often acted out of raw political ambition rather than what was best for the country. In calculating the risk of taking certain actions Democrats, Whigs, and nascent Republicans took into account how their decisions would most affect their own political fortunes.

While principle sometimes played a part, this can be seen in Calhoun's staunch support for slavery no matter what and Republican's anti-Southern stance in 1858 and 1680, in too many instances all that mattered was how issues can be leveraged to gain the most support for you in the next election.

This is not a new idea in Civil War histories, but Holt makes an impressive case for it in just over 100 pages. The other theses of the book, the danger of sectionalism and the need to compromise, are also portrayed well. However, it is the danger of putting one's personal interests above the national that is the main lesson of this book. I don't believe another civil war is in any way imminent, but it would be wonderful if today's politicians would relearn that lesson. This book would be a great place for them to start.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A young Historians outlook..., August 2, 2006

By 

J. Gard (OH, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War (Hardcover)

Michael F. Holt makes a great argument on past historical events leading up to the Civil War. He states clearly in the preface that he is writing this book to reach a wider audience. (And from the other reviews I can see he did!)

It is a resource book containing thoughts he previously used in his books on the Whigs and the 1850's, but if you're an American History teacher or professor this book could be used in the classroom. It is a great addition to my library and would easily work in an academic setting to hit on all the major "coming of events" before the War.

The only probably I have with this book is that Mr. Holt portrays John C. Calhoun as a radical. While me might have been in the 1830's by the Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850 Calhoun predicted the future of our Country and in his address to Congress in 1850 urged for compromise over disunion.

I still would recommend this book to anyone who wanted some straight answers to the Antibellum period of United States history.