The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War [Hardcover]

Brian D. Schoen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801893038 | ISBN-13: 978-0801893032 | Publication Date: August 11, 2009 | Edition: 1

In this fresh study Brian Schoen views the Deep South and its cotton industry from a global perspective, revisiting old assumptions and providing new insights into the region, the political history of the United States, and the causes of the Civil War.

Schoen takes a unique and broad approach. Rather than seeing the Deep South and its planters as isolated from larger intellectual, economic, and political developments, he places the region firmly within them. In doing so, he demonstrates that the region’s prominence within the modern world—and not its opposition to it—indelibly shaped Southern history.

The place of "King Cotton" in the sectional thinking and budding nationalism of the Lower South seems obvious enough, but Schoen reexamines the ever-shifting landscape of international trade from the 1780s through the eve of the Civil War. He argues that the Southern cotton trade was essential to the European economy, seemingly worth any price for Europeans to protect and maintain, and something to defend aggressively in the halls of Congress. This powerful association gave the Deep South the confidence to ultimately secede from the Union.

By integrating the history of the region with global events, Schoen reveals how white farmers, planters, and merchants created a "Cotton South," preserved its profitability for many years, and ensured its dominance in the international raw cotton markets. The story he tells reveals the opportunities and costs of cotton production for the Lower South and the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Schoen has written an immensely important history of southern political economy, one that is destined to be prominent in future studies of the Old South.

(James L. Huston Civil War Book Review 2010)

Schoen's chronological approach in five chapter develops his arguments and does a masterful job of keeping the focus on cotton, its politics, its exploitation of slaves, and ultimately the self-delusions of the cotton states vis-à-vis the world... An excellent book on all counts. Highly recommended.

(Choice 2010)

A sophisticated, nuanced analysis of elite political-economic rhetoric in the antebellum South.

(Lawrence A. Peskin North Carolina Historical Review 2010)

In sure-footed fashion, Brian Schoen guides the reader through overlooked issues in the oft-told account of southern secession.

(Frank J. Byrne Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 2010)

Students of the causes of the Civil War should read The Fragile Fabric of Union. It is well written and extensively documented... The author brings the issues to life by illustrating how economic self interested colored the views of the South to the point that it was willing to sunder the Union and go to war.

(Stephen Donnelly Historical Journal of Massachusetts 2010)

I found myself reading this book in light of current events. Schoen does a good job pointing out that legislative victors may rue their triumph, while losers may inadvertently reap benefits from loathed legislation... The book is clearly written.

(David G. Surdam Journal of Economic History 2010)

Impressive... Adds an intriguing new dimension to ongoing debates about the nature of southern economic development, what motivated southern states to secede, why they seceded when they did, and ultimately what caused the Civil War.

(Beth English American Historical Review 2010)

In this provocative book, he forces historians who have not done so already to discount 'Lost Cause' lore and pay greater attention to southerners who thought they could use their monopoly in raw cotton as leverage to advance the interests of their region in the larger world.

(Glenn C. Altschuler Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2010)

An important contribution to the reinterpretation of plantation slavery and the origins of the U.S. Civil War... A lucidly written, richly researched, and convincing analysis of the global forces that shaped the politics of the southern slaveholders.

(Charles Post Journal of American History 2009)

There is much to admire in Brian Schoen's ambitious new book... A remarkable scholarly debut that represents one of the most important studies of 'why the South fought' to be released in over a generation.

(Scott P. Marler Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 2011)

Schoen's readable prose deserves a wide audience. His explanations of tariffs and other economic issues are clear, and he has admirable command of a wide range of political and economic subjects (both domestically and in foreign relations). This book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any scholar of the antebellum era.

(Aaron W. Marrs Technology and Culture 2010)

Schoen extends the transatlantic dimensions of this era; just as the politics of slavery were shaped by developments in the Caribbean and Europe, so too did the political economy of cotton stretch throughout the Atlantic world. This book should be read by all those interested in broadening their understanding of both the Atlantic world of the nineteenth century and the coming of the American Civil War.

(Ed Rugemer H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews 2011)

Schoen challenges previous studies and underscores the impact of external global economics as a primary cause of the Civil War. This contention is likely to stir controversy and healthy debate.

(Michael Russert Civil War News 2011)

Schoen's Fragile Fabric commendably sheds renewed light on the conflict's origins at the local, sectional, and transatlantic level.

(Marc-William Palen Southern Historian 2011)

A complex portrayal of southern cotton planters that will revise the way many scholars interpret the political economy of slavery.

(John Majewski, University of California, Santa Barbara 2011)

In this bold new interpretation of the contours of southern political economy between the Constitution and the Civil War, Brian Schoen skillfully embeds U.S. history in its proper international context. The Fragile Fabric of Union marks the impressive debut of an exceptional young historian.

(Peter A. Coclanis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill )

This fascinating and deeply researched book challenges enduring myths about the Cotton South and the roots of the Civil War. From the vantage point of global political economy, it sheds new light on how American slaveholders aggressively pursued commercial power.

(Charles Postel, Bancroft prize–winning author of The Populist Vision )

Schoen effectively links ideology, institutions, and econometrics... [and] skillfully places the nineteenth-century South and U.S. on the global stage.

(Todd W. Wahlstrom Journal of Social History )

Specialists will welcome Schoen's deeply researched, well-crafter, and sophisticated book.

(John David Smith The Historian )

The insights presented here are novel and require the engagement of all scholars of Old South politics and economic processes... Provocative, well-written.

(Andrew Prymak South Carolina Historical Magazine )

From the Back Cover

Winner, Bennett H. Wall Award, Southern Historical Association

In this fresh study, Brian Schoen views the Deep South and its cotton industry from a global perspective, revisiting old assumptions and providing new insights into the region, the political history of the United States, and the causes of the Civil War.

"Impressive... Adds an intriguing new dimension to ongoing debates about the nature of southern economic development, what motivated southern states to secede, why they seceded when they did, and ultimately what caused the Civil War."— American Historical Review

"An important contribution to the reinterpretation of plantation slavery and the origins of the U.S. Civil War... A lucidly written, richly researched, and convincing analysis of the global forces that shaped the politics of the southern slaveholders."— Journal of American History

"Schoen has written an immensely important history of southern political economy, one that is destined to be prominent in future studies of the Old South."— Civil War Book Review

"In this provocative book, he forces historians who have not done so already to discount 'Lost Cause' lore and pay greater attention to southerners who thought they could use their monopoly in raw cotton as leverage to advance the interests of their region in the larger world."— Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any scholar of the antebellum era."— Technology and Culture

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801893038
• ISBN-13: 978-0801893032
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Fragile Fabric of Union, January 5, 2010

By 

Stephen M. Donnelly - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War (Hardcover)

The Fragile Fabric of Union examines the regional and global economic factors that eventually led to the Civil War. Brian Schoen makes a compelling argument that economic considerations driven by the global demand for cotton cloth were the primary factors separating the agrarian Deep South and the mercantile and manufacturing interests of the Northeast. Slavery was a factor in the debate, but initially not the central factor.

Eli Whitney's dramatic improvement of the cotton gin enabled the rapid processing of cotton on a commercial scale. This in turn helped to rescue the shattered economy of the Deep South, destroyed by the ravages of the Revolutionary War. In addition to reviving the moribund agricultural economy of Georgia and the Carolinas, the advent of "King Cotton" also breathed new life into the "peculiar institution". It had been widely supposed that slavery would die a slow natural death as market forces and international approbation gradually took their toll. The perceived requirements for a cheap captive work force to meet the accelerating demands of British textile mills put an end to that illusory hope, and sowed the seeds of future disaster.

Schoen describes how the advent of the Napoleonic Wars and the resultant coercive British and French trade restrictions produced the Jeffersonian economic embargo in reply. This was an economic disaster for Southern agriculture and Northern shipping alike. Through most of the embargo years the South remained steadfast in their support of this policy which emphasized shared sacrifice and economic warfare in place of the real thing. The author emphasizes the undue trust the planters placed in the affects that an artificial cotton shortage would have on the British economy. They were confident that the British would eventually buckle under the weight of massive unemployment and declining profits, which never reached the level of pain necessary to bring parliament into line. This same assumption was to help ruin the Southern economy during the Civil War, inadvertently hastening its end.

The mercantile and shipping interests of the Northeast were always reluctant partners in this quasi-war, and became more averse as fortunes were lost and ships rotted at their moorings. National economic distress eventually led enough Southern defections to join with John Quincy Adams and his northern political allies to help kill the embargo. This did nothing to alleviate the ongoing problems with Great Britain, which continued to restrict trade and impress sailors, resulting in the War of 1812.

After the war, sectional rivalries were fueled by Northern attempts to encourage its' nascent manufacturing sector by the imposition of tariffs on finished goods. Southern planters vehemently opposed tariffs and promoted free trade for sectional economic considerations. They felt it unfair to penalize many planters by increasing the cost of imported goods in order to help the bottom line of a few Northern industrialists. They also believed that the imposition of high tariffs would lead Great Britain to retaliate by encouraging cotton cultivation within their ever growing satellite empire.

The author demonstrates that although slavery was always a subtext within the great tariff debates, it was economic considerations that were the driving force. The lines of this debate were not always clearly drawn. Famed senator, orator, and perennial Massachusetts presidential contender Daniel Webster became a Southern hero with an eloquent defense of free trade. He faced Southern vituperation and perhaps cost himself the presidency only a few years later with, in today's terms, a major flip-flop on the issue.

The first great nullification crisis was a precursor of things to come. South Carolina led the effort to declare states rights paramount over national suzerainty, but eventually backed away from the brink. Although the abolitionist movement was beginning to make itself heard, the nullification conflict was primarily concerned with the economic issue of protectionism versus free trade and not with the eradication of slavery.

Brian Schoen illustrates that disputes over the expansion of slavery into new territories and states were driven by southern economic and political considerations. The Cotton South felt economically threatened by the North and looked to expand their influence in Congress by increasing the number of cotton growing slave states. The Missouri Compromise and the ill-fated Kansas-Nebraska Act were both attempts to bridge the ever growing chasm between these interests and the moral arguments arrayed against them. Schoen writes that, "The debate over slavery's expansion, along with concerns over its political and economic security in the Union, propelled the Cotton States to secession."

The books final section, An Unnatural Union describes how almost every national issue had become sectionalized in the final years leading up to the Civil War. Trade, tariffs, internal improvements, homesteading, territorial expansion, international relations, even the route of the transcontinental railroad were all seen through the prism of perceived regional advantage in an implacable economic rivalry. Driven by fears of economic ruin and slave rebellion, an exaggerated sense of personal honor, and a mistaken belief in the subservience of the British economy to King Cotton, southern firebrands resolved upon the path of succession if Abraham Lincoln was elected. The phenomenal growth of the cotton economy had once been viewed as a means of tightening the bonds of union through trade, shipping, and prosperity. Instead, Schoen concludes, "...without cotton and the international demand for it, there would not have been a succession or a civil war.

Students of the causes of the Civil war should read The Fragile Fabric of Union. It is well written and extensively documented. The book's relatively narrow focus enables it to avoid the pitfalls of many survey histories, which often read like textbooks. The author brings the issues to life by illustrating how economic self interest colored the views of the South to the point that they were willing to sunder the Union and go to War. Like many a good history, it illuminates the motivations and actions of past participants as seen through their eyes. Whether we learn from it is another story.