Stephen Maizlish sifted through 1700-1800 different documents and speeches from the 19th century in order to recreate an accurate depiction of the discourse that was occurring in Congress prior to the Civil War. His book, A Strife of Tongues: The Compromise of 1850 and the Ideological Foundations of the American Civil War (A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era), is the product of his outstanding work. He found that many speeches and documents of lesser-known congressman of the time were the most profound and the least read by historians today.

What exactly caused the Civil War? What is the importance of intellectual history? What are the power of words when reconstructing a reality? How different really were the Northern and Southern Congressmen during the Compromise of 1850? How was the division between the North and the South created? How prevalent were the concepts of masculinity in discourse during the time of the Compromise of 1850?

Further Reading:

“How Calls for Civility Led to the Civil War,” by Oliver Bateman

Holt, Michael. The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Hill & Wang. 2004.

Ransom, Roger. Conflict and Compromise: The Political Economy of Slavery, Emancipation, and the American Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1989.

A Strife of Tongues: The Compromise of 1850 and the Ideological Foundations of the American Civil War (A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era), written by Stephen W. Maizlish

Related Content:

The Virtues of Compromise, written by Charles Jared Ingersoll

1848 and Its Aftermath, Liberty Chronicles Podcast

The Greatest of Nullifiers, Liberty Chronicles Podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.