What caused the Civil War? Perhaps no question in American history has
attracted more interest or sparked more debate. A House Divided
presents a fresh and balanced interpretation that challenges the view of
slavery as a largely artificial or symbolic issue in the conflict
between two incompatible societies. While recognizing the impact of
other political disputes and of such concerns as temperance and
nativism, Richard Sewell refocuses attention on slavery as the root of
sectionalism and, ultimately, the war.
A House Divided traces the growth of bitter cetional discord in the
years after 1848, when the acquisition of new American territories
rekindled old controversies over the expansion of slavery. A series of
compromises forestalled the crisis of secession but increasingly divided
the country along slavery's lines. Attitudes toward slavery also
influenced the conduct and consequences of the war that followed. The
union army rapidly accepted the enlistment of emancipated slaves, while
the Confederacy faced both subtle subversion from its black labor firce
and sagging morale from the alveless Southern whites who felt
disproportionately burdened by the war effort. Sewell's rich account of
the war covers both military and home fronts and traces the birth of
plans to reconstruct the Union and deal with the legacy of slavery.