num_pages: 468
description: As the breach between the sections widened in the 1850's, Northern publicists ascribed it to incompatible moral codes. It was, William H. Seward said in 1858, "an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces". Southern writers, on the other hand, saw an irreconcilable difference between two schools of constitutional interpretation, one of Jefferson and the other of Hamilton. More recently, historians have pointed out the economic implications of the controversy as well. In this book, Mr. Cole considers all these factors but shows that the strife between North and South involved very much more. His picture is one of two different civilizations, one contesting for supremacy and the other for independence, and each resting on different labor systems, different economies, and different social and intelectual interests. This deep-reaching "irrepressible conflict", Mr. Cole argues, defeated every effort to patch up mere political differences and brought on the Civil War. In his narrative, the author illuminates the daily life of Americans throughout the period, and especially the impact of the war on the popular consciousness in North and South and its diverse effects on the man in the ranks."He has accumulated an imposing mass of detail of the most varied character, but his outlines are clear and his material is kept firmly in hand. The book is as readable as it is instructive." – New York Times"A more detailed and reliable picture of the period than we have possessed before this." – Annals"The book fully measures up to the high standard set by other published volumes of this series." – American Journal of Sociology
language: English
title: Irrepressible Conflict 1850 1865
titlecomplete: Irrepressible Conflict 1850 1865
ratings_count: 2
series: A History of American Life
publisher: Scholarly Pr