The Civil War Political Tradition: Ten Portraits of Those Who Formed It

National Archives Museum
Online

Historian Paul Escott will discuss the key Americans in the years leading up to the Civil War. Escott profiles Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Stephen A. Douglas, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Horace Greeley, Albion Tourgée, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, illustrating how these men and women established, embodied, and advanced the opposing political and cultural trends that culminated in the great crisis of the 19th century. Covering figures from across a wide political spectrum, Escott reveals numerous streams and facets of 19th-century American political thought to illuminate the forces, from slavery to suffrage, underlying this greatest of conflicts. Joining the author in conversation will be John David Smith, professor of history, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.