Decade of Disunion: Massachusetts and South Carolina's Path to Civil War, 1849-1861

The Decade of Disunion explores a critical lesson about our nation that is as timely today as ever. It shows how the country came apart during the enveloping slavery crisis of the 1850s. The Mexican War brought vast new territories to the United States, which precipitated a growing crisis over slavery. The new territories seemed unsuitable for the type of agriculture that depended on slave labor, but they lay south of the line where slavery was permitted by the 1820 Missouri Compromise. The subject of expanding slavery to the new territories became a flash point between North and South.

The 1850 compromise legislation, which strengthened the fugitive slave law, outraged the North. In 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise altogether, unleashing a violent conflict in "Bleeding Kansas" over whether that territory would become free or slave. The 1857 Dred Scott decision, which abrogated any rights of African Americans, enslaved or free, further outraged the North. John Brown's ill-planned 1859 attack at the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry stirred anger and fear throughout the South.

Throughout the decade, South Carolina, whose economy depended heavily on slave labor, struggled over whether to secede in a stand-alone act of defiance or to do so only in conjunction with other states. Meanwhile, Massachusetts became the country's antislavery epicenter but debated whether the Constitution was worth saving in the effort to abolish bondage. Both states widened the divide between North and South until disunion became inevitable.

In December 1860, in the wake of the Lincoln election, South Carolina finally seceded, leading the South out of the Union. This history is a sobering reminder that democracy is not self-sustaining – it must be constantly and carefully tended.

Beginning with the deaths of the great second-generation figures of American history – Calhoun, Webster, and Clay – Decade of Disunion tells the story of this great American struggle through the aims, fears, and maneuvers of the subsequent prominent figures at the center of the drama, with particular attention to the key players from Massachusetts and South Carolina.

The Decade of Disunion serves as a critical reminder that the preservation of a unified nation requires diligence and compromise. The complex interplay of regional interests, political ambitions, and moral convictions that ultimately tore the country apart during this period underscores the fragility of the democratic experiment. As the nation grapples with contemporary divisions, this historical account offers invaluable insights into the enduring challenges of sustaining a cohesive and just society.

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