Abridged ed. of the author's The Dred Scott case, its significance in American law and politics.

The decision declared that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, thereby striking a severe blow at the the legitimacy of the emerging Republican party and intensifying the sectional conflict over slavery.This ...

This volume analyses how the government of the United States effectively became an agent of the slaveholding interest, despite the fact that the nation had been founded upon ideals potentially hostile to the institution of slavery.

It is one more major contribution to the work of putting the slavery issue back where it has always belonged--at the very centre--of any discussion of the origins of the Civil War."--Journal of American Studies "This is a brilliant book.

"Abraham Lincoln, America's heroic Civil War president, was also the greatest writer ever to occupy the White House.

Spine title: Lincoln : speeches and writings, 1832-1858. On t.p.: Speeches, letters, and miscellaneous writings; the LincolnDouglas debates.

This volume, along with its companion, Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832–1858, comprises the most comprehensive selection ever published.