Synopses & Reviews
This collection of late antebellum U.S. Senate speeches exemplifies the official statements of the public men from the South, North, and West as they struggled with the questions of national identity and the right of self-government within the context of the rule of law. In the forum of the world's greatest deliberative body, senators made constitutional and political arguments on behalf of the state's rights and nationalistic models of the federal union. In presenting rhetorical exchanges between senators, The Politics of Dissolution delineates the critical events that pushed and pulled the nation towards dissolution and internecine war. Partisan politics, slavery, secession, empire-building, religion, culture, and fiscal policy are among the issues debated.