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    Unavailable
    The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War
    Unavailable
    The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War
    Unavailable
    The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War
    Audiobook13 hours

    The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War

    Written by Andrew Delbanco

    Narrated by Ari Fliakos

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The devastating story of how fugitive slaves drove the nation to Civil War

    For decades after its founding, America was really two nations—one slave, one free. There were many reasons why this composite nation ultimately broke apart, but the fact that enslaved black people repeatedly risked their lives to flee their masters in the South in search of freedom in the North proved that the "united" states was actually a lie. Fugitive slaves exposed the contradiction between the myth that slavery was a benign institution and the reality that a nation based on the principle of human equality was in fact a prison-house in which millions of Americans had no rights at all. By awakening northerners to the true nature of slavery, and by enraging southerners who demanded the return of their human "property," fugitive slaves forced the nation to confront the truth about itself.

    By 1850, with America on the verge of collapse, Congress reached what it hoped was a solution—the notorious Compromise of 1850, which required that fugitive slaves be returned to their masters. Like so many political compromises before and since, it was a deal by which white Americans tried to advance their interests at the expense of black Americans. Yet the Fugitive Slave Act, intended to preserve the Union, in fact set the nation on the path to civil war. It divided not only the American nation, but also the hearts and minds of Americans who struggled with the timeless problem of when to submit to an unjust law and when to resist.

    The fugitive slave story illuminates what brought us to war with ourselves and the terrible legacies of slavery that are with us still.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 6, 2018
    ISBN9781984837967
    Unavailable
    The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War

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    Reviews for The War Before the War

    4.5/5

    14 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Most history books covering the period from the Revolution to the Civil War are written from the white person's perspective. Whether looking at it from the south or the north, pro- or antislavery, events are often told as if African Americans sat silently awaiting their rescue. I love that this book flips all that upside down, showing us how slaves and free blacks both worked together and clashed during this period. We're shown how and why the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted, the resulting problems for all citizens, and the ever-widening divide between the southerners clinging to their right to "own" people and the northerners growing inability to look away. And, maybe most importantly, we're shown how African Americans rose up and demanded change.Throughout the narrative, the author makes some compelling references to current events, inadvertently reminding us that maybe we haven't moved as far from our dark past as we'd like to think. He gives us much to think about, not least of which being how a country founded on freedom and personal liberty could ever legitimize the right to own another person.While the subject matter is dense and complex, the writing style is engaging. I felt like I was transported back to this tumultuous time.I'd like to see this book as required reading for every high school student. And maybe those students should then pass the book on to their parents. We need to acknowledge the fissures that divided our country have shifted but haven't healed. This book goes a long way to showing us the how and why.*I received an advance copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
    • 5/5
      This is a well documented history about the background of the fights over slavery in the period before the Civil War. I teach at a junior college and I learned a lot of information about things like the character Captain Ahab in Moby Dick was modeled after the ardent pro slavery advocate John C. Calhoun. I also learned much about Henry Clay and Daniel Webster who were crucial in the debates. Any student of history will find value reading this book.
    • 4/5
      5639. The War Before the War Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War, by Andrew Delbanco (read 12 Jul 2019) This 2018 book examines the provision in Article 4 of the Constitution which dealt with the matter of fugitive slaves. The author says without that provision the slave states would not have ratified the Constitution. As opposition to slavery rose in the nation that provision and the laws enacted pursuant thereto led to the dilemma: should the law and the constitution be obeyed despite the abhorrent insult to one's conscience. The whole tortured history is recited and examined in this book and I am pretty well convinced that only a waras long as the Civil War and as decisive as the Civil War could resolve the difficulty. Much in the book was not new to me but the matter is carefully examined and convincingly shows that only a war as decisive as the Civil War turned out to be could have solved the matter in freedom's favor. The book is persuasive and made me appreciate yet again the wisdom of Lincoln and marvel at the good fortune this country had in having him become president.
    • 5/5
      I cannot recommend this book enough. For those who love the history surrounding the Civil War, it can quickly become difficult to find something new, something that is not simply a regurgitation of what you already know; facts and antidote simply rearranged in another form. This book is not that. It dives deep into the decades preceding it, with countless compelling stories and the page-turning suspense of a mystery novel. I will read this book again. (And possibly again after that.) After finishing it I find myself jealous of anyone who has yet to read it.

      2 people found this helpful