Robert W. Merry

Decade of Disunion: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War, 1849-1861

From the Publisher:

With “characteristic wisdom and grace” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) Robert W. Merry explores a critical lesson about our nation that is as timely today as ever demonstrating 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 the North and South.

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 Then in 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise altogether, unleashing a violent conflict in “Bleeding Kansas” over whether that territory would become free or enslaved.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

Through a decade, the divide between the North and the South widened until disunion became inevitable. Then, in December 1860, in the wake of the Lincoln election, South Carolina finally seceded, leading the South of the Union. 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.

Decade of Disunion is a “thoughtful and accomplished” (The Wall Street Journal) look at one of the most tumultuous times of American history, offering us a sobering reminder that democracy is not self-sustaining—it must be constantly and carefully tended.

Reviews:

“A vast, rich canvas, which [Merry] enlivens with sharp profiles of leading players. . . . Unusually for a book of such wingspan, Decade of Disunion consistently holds our attention with vivid, close-in detail. . . . [A] thoughtful and accomplished history.”
– Roger Lowenstein, Wall Street Journal

“Based on extensive primary research, this detailed case study will magnetize readers interested in U.S. Civil War history and politics.”
– Library Journal (starred review)

“With characteristic wisdom and grace, Robert W. Merry takes us back to critical hours in the history of American democracy, shedding new light on ancient questions that are, alas, urgent once more. To revisit how we fell apart in the nineteenth century can help us see the crises of the twenty-first more clearly.”
– Jon Meacham, author of And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

“With his characteristic energy and elegance, Robert Merry traces America’s path to civil war during the tumultuous 1850s. This is political history at its most riveting—and most instructive, with a powerful reminder that our democracy is what we make of it, for better or worse.”
– H. W. Brands, University of Texas at Austin, author of Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics

“Merry, a master of the two-page pen portrait, shows how clashes between politicians within the states were often as fierce as the larger struggle between North and South, and he gives a fresh introduction to the characters at the heart of the story.”
– Richard Kreitner, Washington Post

“Robert Merry traces how the polarities of opinion in Massachusetts and South Carolina toward the future of slavery and the nation impelled an increasingly Disunited States step by step toward breakup and war. An outstanding feature of this book is the vivid portraits of leading personalities in these radically dissimilar states who became emblematic of this process. A valuable contribution to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War.”
– James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

“A sweeping, invaluable history of the long prelude to the Civil War. . . . Merry employs consistently thorough and crisp prose, combining his best attributes as a journalist and historian. . . . Extraordinarily useful to readers no matter their level of familiarity with this particular period of American history. An essential volume for serious students of U.S. history, especially Civil War buffs.”
– Kirkus Reviews

[Recorded on October 10, 2024.]