The Idea of a Southern Nation: Southern Nationalists and Southern Nationalism, 1830-1860

By John M. McCardell Jr. and John Mc Cardell

Book Overview

But a series of shocks--social, economic, intellectual, and, finally, political--gave an increasingly distinctive twist to the ideology of nationalism that developed in the South. By 1860, through agreeing with the North over constitutional fundamentals and sharing with other Americans similar hopes and fears, many Southerners had concluded that only in a separate Southern nation could their rights and security be preserved. This book is a study of how and why the ideology of Southern nationalism arose and spread. It attempts to explain within the framework of an evolving national character how Northern and Southern versions of American nationalism, both of which professed allegiance to the Constitution, led to civil war.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393952037
• ISBN13: 9780393952032
• Release Date: November 1981
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.9" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The most complete accounting of causes of the Civil War.

Although thoroughly researched and brilliantly insightful, the book is so well-written it will appeal to academics and lay people interested in the economic and human forces which led to the most horrific bloodshed in American History.