The Impending Crisis by David Potter - Book Report/Review Example

? THE IMPENDING CRISIS, 1848 - 1861 BY DAVID POTTER THE IMPENDING CRISIS BY DAVID POTTER Introduction The impending crisis is a nonfiction book written by renowned American historian David Porter. Though published in 1977, the book was written much earlier and takes a look at America within the years of 1848 to 1861. With the Civil War as the major history event within the periods from 1861, Potter gives historic antecedents to climaxing events that led to the eventual outbreak of the Civil War. Some of the specific events that were reviewed by the writer include the westward expansion, disproportionate distribution of slavery issues between the north and south, John Brown’s uprising, the coming to office of Abraham Lincoln, among others. From the title of the book, the writer makes an argument for to the effect that the eventual outbreak of Civil War was something that could have been anticipated and so its outbreak means there were actually things that were to be done that were not done in stopping the war. In this paper, the strengths and failures of the writer in meeting the goals of the book are reviewed, using chapters 11 to 20 of the book. Generally, it would be noted that even though the writer was very accurate with reports on slavery and other legislative history, not much attention or any focus at wall was given to other aspects of the possible causes of the war including economic and cultural factors to the war. Summary of Chapters 11 to 20 These parts of the book may well be referred to as the part two of the book and are used to outline very chaotic moments in events leading up to the war in 1861. Generally, this part of the books was used to giving explanations as to why the sectional conflict existed. Porter labeled three clear causes in the course of the chapters, namely cultural, economic and ideological causes of the sectional conflict in the country. Interestingly, these three factors are not linked together but treated in a more independent and separate parameters as though they were not compatible, one with the other. The weakness of this approach is that, even though the writer attributes diversity of culture as the most outstanding factor among the sectional conflict because of the fact that the conflicts were rooted deeply in racial (and for that matter cultural differences), he refused to admit that once diversity of culture exists, it automatically produce diversity in interests and values. This notwithstanding, greater parts of these chapters gave accounts of cultural factors, economic factors, and ideological factors as different independent explanations to the sectional conflict with so much reflection on cultural factors. Again, the writer commits time in outlining key effects of slavery on the two sectors identified as the North and South sections of the country. It is explained that politicians in the North were more concerned with the primary interests of the North and so saw slavery as a secondary interest. This notwithstanding, they did not totally antagonize slavery as a secondary interest. For the South, politicians had more or less embraced the impact of stigmatization as abolitionist on votes. Leading up to the closing chapters of this second part, there are abstractions that look closely at the issue of legal status of the issue of slavery that existed in parts of the sectional or divided country. First, there was a legislative interrogation to why there were slaves in one part of the country and no slaves in other parts of the country. In the estimation of Porter, there needed to be a legislative boundary that gave a cross-sectional legal standing on the issue of slavery such as if slavery was seen as wrong in one end of the country, it would be seen as equally inappropriate in portions of the country where it was practiced. Indeed, the refusal of the government to have a unilateral stake on the abolition of slavery, according to Porter, rocked the foundations of the government. This is because the fact that some indigenous Whites would prefer to have no slaves became an issue of honor and raised questions of value for human right that the government had to answer. An important commentary held by the writer was the fact that in most of the times before the issue of slavery took a political dimension sectional diversities were seen as qualified and justified. But at the same time, the fueling of tensions of slavery issues were also seen as a situation that came up because other forms of political tensions such as process of accommodation came into the question. By and large, it can be summed that there were sectional divisions which were not seen as wrong until differences in political ideologies set in among the people in these two sections. Once these differences came about, issues of slavery became topical, further dividing the two sections and causing fierce rivalry between them. Types of Sources used by the author Generally, the second part of the book, made up of chapters 11 to 20 looked at issues that were sourced from many different primary account, rather than secondary account of American history from 1848 to 1861. Some of the primary sources that were used included specific examples of events from the Fugitive Slave Act, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, pre-secession maneuvers by the South, the 1860 elections, and the secession process that led up to the commencement of the Civil War in 1861 at Fort Sumter (Franson, 2009). By the use of these sources the author came up two major thematic lines of writing, which were the irresolvable slavery issue and the symbolic but somewhat insignificant victory of the South. Using sources from the Fugitive Slave Act and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates for instance, the irresolvable slavery issues was tackled with the emphasis that this issue gave a total wipeout to other equally important national and economic issues such as territories, tariffs, Manifest Destiny and demarcation of new States. Out of these sources and issues, the writer bemoaned the level of stagnancy that issues of national and economic development had suffered as a result of slavery by stating that “By the time the southern states seceded, Manifest Destiny had reached a supreme paradox: northern unionists who believed in American nationalism resisted most proposals for further territorial growth of the nation, while states' rights southerners who denied that the Union was a nation sought to extend the national domain from pole to pole.” (Porter, 1977 in Franson, 2009). As the writer addressed the issue of irresolvable slavery from the array of sources given however, a major weakness with his approach was a refusal to drum home the significance and seriousness of the national and economic issues that the slavery issues had overshadowed. That is, should the reader had been made aware of the relevance and importance of these national and economic issues from the chapters, the severity and depth of danger that the irresolvable slavery issue did to national and economic development would have been best appreciated. As far as the symbolic victory of the South is concerned, primary sources were taken from the pre-secession maneuvers by the South and the 1860 elections. This is because whiles Northern public opinion had taken an entrenched position of the dominance that slavery issue had had over American policies, the South were maneuvering their ideologies and quest for freedom through by use of various forms of advocacy and violence in some cases. The victory of the South referred to by the writer was the fact that an issue that concerned the South, though unresolved took dominance in American politics and thereby increasing the fear for the continual existence of the slavery. As the elections become looming for rivalry politicians, the need for the South and for that matter issues of the South to be taken more seriously became part of the daily politicking of the American people, meaning that the South had become even more powerful and victorious. Indeed, the style used by the author in presenting his arguments and themes were very logical and systematic, as well as well knit to the primary sources that were used. This characteristic feature became a major strength of the theses presented by making them down to earth and easy to comprehend. Conclusion From the arguments made above, a number of conclusions can be made in relation to the arguments presented by the writer and the general approach used in addressing the issues. First, the review has established a strong respect for personality by the writer. With the way the writer addresses issues that bordered on personalities, including presidents like Presidents Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan and Zachery Taylor, it can be concluded that the aim of the writer in attacking issues rather than people was clearly achieved. Again, as much as the writer wanted to give details on issues, events and people, the temptation of going excessively detailed with these were not encouraged by the writer. In effect, the reader is kept directed at the themes of the book rather than a temptation to wander off themes through high abstraction and futurism (quote). What is more, Porter was very serious about time, being precise with all issues as and when they happened in the 1850s. Largely though, the accounts given of politicians, voters, pressure groups, and other social organizations, and how they perceived issues such as the effect that the slavery phenomenon could have on them, it can be concluded that the writer’s attempt to attack the negligence given to a possible war was right. Clearly, authorities and other stakeholders concerned with peace could have smelled the impending crisis and resolved the tensions before they got out of hands. Cited Works Franson, W. Robert. The Impending Crisis, 1848 – 1861. 2009. Web. 16th September, 2013 Potter, M. David. The Impending Crisis, 1848 – 1861. Harper & Row: New York, 1976. Print. Read More