Years before the Civil War began, another dark conflict threatened to
shatter the Union. It was December 1849. The U.S.-Mexican War had just
ended, doubling the size of the country. A grave problem emerged:
whether slavery should be admitted into the new territories that were to
be carved out of the vast new domain resulting from the war. This
dilemma strained the relationship between the slave-holding South and
the antislavery North. Other issues loomed as well: where to draw the
Texas boundary line with the New Mexico territory, how to settle the
Texas debt claims, and what to do about the problem of fugitive slaves
escaping to the North and the slavetrade in the District of Columbia.
The nation was on the brink of secession, dissolution, and civil war. On
the Brink of Civil War tells the dramatic story of what happened when a
handful of senators-towering figures in nineteenth-century American
history-tried to hammer out a compromise to save the Union. The
characters in this critical political drama included Henry Clay,
seasoned politician and statesman known as the 'Great Pacificator, ' who
formulated an agreement in the Senate and would fight to get it through
Congress; the gifted orator Daniel Webster, who helped Clay in his
efforts by delivering the 'Seventh of March' compromise speech on the
Senate floor, one of the most memorable speeches in American history;
and John C. Calhoun, a fervent defender of slavery and the South who,
though nearing death, spoke to the Senate and demanded equal rights for
the South in the new Western territories.
Four young senators stepped into the fray to play their own unique,
important roles: Henry Seward, the Whig from New York who many say
controlled President Zachary Taylor and who opposed compromise; Stephen
A. Douglas, the dynamic 'Little Giant' from Illinois who favored
agreement; Salmon P. Chase, the voice of the Free-Soilers and foe of
compromise and concessions to the South; and Jefferson Davis, Mexican
War hero and second only to Calhoun as the Voice of the South.
Eventually, Douglas would take charge of the compromise on the Senate
floor and engineer a political triumph.
Author John C. Waugh brings all these men to life in this gripping
account. Waugh's richly detailed, swiftly moving narrative reads like a
novel, yet he brings perspective and interpretation to the events that
will help students understand the meaning of this complex, alarming
period in America's past.
The Compromise of 1850 makes history come alive and will enlighten and
entertain students in courses on the Civil War era, U.S. political
history, and survey courses on U.S. history.
