The American Civil War Podcast

Lincoln delivered his Inaugural Address under difficult circumstances, but his message bears a careful look. Few Presidents have ever included quite sort of dive into Constitutional authority, nor walked such a fine line in doing so. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

To all listeners, The episode examines the Cornerstone Speech, an infamously racist revelation of the gruesome reality behind the Confederacy. Unfortunately, there is no way to properly explain the speech without directly examining the words of Alexander Stephens in detail. Although I am deeply uncomfortable with repeating them, an honest examination of the Confederacy and the true ideology that l...

Between his election and and inauguration, Abraham Lincoln had many preparations to complete. When South Carolina finally bit the bullet after decades of Secessionist threats, it up-ended the politics of a nation. Lincoln, however, affected little concern in public. Yet behind the scenes he immediately began to devise a strategy for resolving it. This is a public episode. If you would like to disc...

This short episode will look at the inaugural address as delivered by Confederate President Jefferson Davis in 1861. This speech is important for two primary reasons. It reveals much about Confederate goals with regards to several major groups, but also what Davis chooses not to say in what would have been a defining moment. Some parts of the speech are recouted in this episode. As with all of thi...

For most of his life, Jefferson Davis was an honourable American soldier, a diligent planter, a brave leader and even a loving husband. Despite a roguish streak in his youth and a brief dalliance with radical politics, he settled into becoming a respected Mississippi politician. Even the Presidency itself might not lie beyond his reach, given his talents. In 1861, however, Davis suddenly found him...

On December 9th, 1860, a gathering of South Carolinians declared themselves separated from the United States. The event itself was not especially dramatic or glorious. Yet it would herald a wave of revolution as fear, excitement, and greed overcame loyalty. It was at once John C. Calhoun’s grim revenge, and also the first stirrings of the downfall of everything he held dear. It was caused by the d...

Today we explore the questions about where Secessionism came from, why Southern slaveholders began to lean towards ever-more radical political designs, and how Calhounist ideology spread. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

The Democrats fatally split their votes in 1860, but they might have failed to defeat the Republicans anyway. Although not always in charge, the party of Madison, Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Polk and Pierce had overcome challenge after challenge and usually came away victorious. But John C. Calhoun sowed the poisonous roots of separatism and idealized slavery, and these finally broke free a decade...

In this episode we explore the experience of slavery in a different way, focusing on the most powerfully-distinctive aspects of the peculiar institution especially as practiced on plantations. Although the discussion is not explicit, varied examples of violence and abuse as real events are brought up. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...

From the failure of 1858, Lincoln had nowhere to go but up. So he decided to jump from private legal practice to Presidential candidate. It was the logical move. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

Before Kansas-Nebraska, Abraham Lincoln was a political nobody. Afterwards, he found his career and influence accelerating along with the fast-growing Republican party. Within two years, he went from a former Representative years past his political career, to aiming squarely at the mighty throne of Stephen Douglas himself. By way of a correction which I discovered too late, at 17:35 I inadvertentl...

Here is a short episode separate from the Lincoln series. This is meant to return to the issue of slavery itself, not as an abstraction but as the lived experience of nine million Americans by 1860. Most lived on plantations, and their lives were constrained in a way that few can understand or imagine today. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...

Abraham Lincoln came from Kentucky and Indiana and then settled in Illinois. He had no illustrious ancestors, no riches or wealth, and an average education. Yet his family did all they could for him, and he in turn would work very hard to make something of himself. Did he succeed? Well, come listen and find out about his early trials and tribulations, awkward romance, and personal troubles of the...

For the first fifty-odd years of his life, John Brown lived more or less anonymously. But when he arrived in Kansas in 1855, everything changed. Within a year he spilled the blood of his first victims upon the soil, and made Kansas bleed in turn. A few years thereafter, he led a doomed revolutionary uprising at Harper’s Ferry. Whether one calls him a Fanatic, Madman, or Saint, John Brown believed...

Dred Scott was an average American, except he happened to be enslaved. When he found a potential path to freedom, he took it and kept up the fight for more than a decade. In a divisive and destructive decision, the Supreme Court itself would tighten his chains and the chains on all Americans. Yet the illustrious Chief Justice Roger Taney, and his supporters in and outside the Court, never consider...

This episode broadly explains why early Americans resorted to gold and silver currency and often looked with suspicion on paper banknotes (and also explains what those fundamentally are). And to finish up, there’s a discussion on the political arguments over central banks from the Revolution to the Jacksonian era. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers o...

In today’s episode, an obscure and probably-unimportant settler named John Brown commits a few murders. But apart from throwing a match on Kansas politics, I’m sure we’ll probably never hear from him again. Instead, the major players of the United States combine to try and control the outcome of events in Kansas. But Presidents, Senators, Governors and Army officers alike quickly discover they hav...

Who was James Buchanan, and with all the strong-minded leaders in antebellum America, why did he become President? That’s not rhetorical. I’m asking a question here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

In 1854 group of anti-slavery Wisconsinites met and declared the foundation of a new political party. Within two years it became a new, formidable rival to the Democrats and began absorbing nearly all Northern politics into its own orbit. Today we explore the question of who joined the party and why it could grow so powerful, so quickly. Plus, James Buchanan absent-mindedly saunters into the White...

In this episode, we explore the ultimately-failed American Party, also known as the Know-Nothings. Although not purely an anti-immigration group, that part of their ideology defined them, brought them to prominence, and ultimately destroyed them. But starting off, we explore Catholic and Anti-Catholic views in Antebellum America, plus a quick look at Prohibition. This is a public episode. If you w...

Join in for a brutal attack in the sacred halls of the Capitol. When Preston brooks unleashes his wrath on Abolitionist Charles Sumner, he will strike a blow for slavery. He will also help unravel the nation at the tip of a cane. We cover the background of those involved and its impact on national politics as one of the most shocking events in the history of Congress occurs. This is a public episo...

In 1854, the ambition of Stephen Douglas would write the fate of the nation. He wanted a railroad; he created a crisis. Within months pro-slavery men from Missouri would start out trying to swing an election - and end by trying to burn a town. The results become the ugliest chapter in American history. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...

Join us for an exploration of how prominent Abolitionists spread the ideology of freedom, and the curious novel that stirred the conscience of the American people. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

In today’s episode, we cover the rarely-remembered Election of 1852, from the shockwaves of European Revolutions to the impact on American politics. General Winfield Scott will see his hope of becoming President fail, and the little-known Pierce will rise in his place. However, victory in this election may turn out far worse than defeat. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this...

A continuation of the previous episode’s broad overview of Abolitionism and flight from slavery. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com