Rebels in the Making: The Secession Crisis and the Birth of the Confederacy

The election of Abraham Lincoln changed the world of Southern whites, who were uncomfortable with slavery. Rebels in the Making is a narrative-driven history of how and why secession occurred, arguing that it was not a mass democratic movement but one led from above. It begins with the deepening strains within Southern society as the slave economy matured and Southern ideologues struggled to convert whites to the orthodoxy of slavery. The election of 1860 set the stage for secession, with secessionists launching a movement in South Carolina that spread across the South in a frenzied atmosphere. The driving impetus for secession came from the middling ranks of slaveholders who saw their aspirations of planter status blocked and denigrated by the Republicans. The final chapter centers on the crisis over Fort Sumter, which precipitated a second wave of secession in the Upper South.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 384 pages
\n Publication date: 03 October 2020
\n Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
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Regardless of whether they owned slaves, Southern whites lived in a world defined by slavery. As shown by their blaming British and Northern slave traders for saddling them with slavery, most were uncomfortable with the institution. While many wanted it ended, most were content to leave that up to God. All that changed with the election of Abraham Lincoln.

Rebels in the Making is a narrative-driven history of how and why secession occurred. In this work, senior Civil War historian William L. Barney narrates the explosion of the sectional conflict into secession and civil war. Carefully examining the events in all fifteen slave states and distinguishing the political circumstances in each, he argues that this was not a mass democratic movement but one led from above.

The work begins with the deepening strains within Southern society as the slave economy matured in the mid-nineteenth century and Southern ideologues struggled to convert whites to the orthodoxy of slavery as a positive good. It then focuses on the years of 1860-1861 when the sectional conflict led to the break-up of the Union. As foreshadowed by the fracturing of the Democratic Party over the issue of federal protection for slavery in the territories, the election of 1860 set the stage for secession. Exploiting fears of slave insurrections, anxieties over crops ravaged by a long drought, and the perceived moral degradation of submitting to the rule of an antislavery Republican, secessionists launched a movement in South Carolina that spread across the South in a frenzied atmosphere described as the great excitement.

After examining why Congress was unable to reach a compromise on the core issue of slavery's expansion, the study shows why secession swept over the Lower South in January of 1861 but stalled in the Upper South. The election of Lincoln in November of 1860 sealed the fate of the Confederacy, as he vowed to preserve the Union by any means necessary. The war ultimately ended with the Confederate surrender in April of 1865, marking the end of slavery in the United States.

In conclusion, Rebels in the Making is a valuable contribution to the study of the Civil War and the history of slavery in the United States. Barney's careful examination of the events leading up to secession and the war provides a nuanced understanding of the complex political and social factors that shaped the conflict. His argument that secession was not a mass democratic movement but one led from above challenges traditional narratives of the Civil War and sheds light on the complex web of factors that led to the break-up of the Union. This work is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the history of the Civil War and the legacy of slavery in American society.

\n Weight: 674g\n
Dimension: 167 x 243 x 35 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780190076085\n \n