University Paul Finkelman; Donald R Kennon sku-16634464 Book

Listed under University Paul Finkelman; Donald R Kennon, this Legal History Books hardcover is part of Perspective Hist of Congress 1801-1877. Its new essays examine Congress and the crisis of the 1850s, including the failure of political leadership before the Civil War.

From 1848 to 1861, debate over territories acquired from Mexico and whether slavery would be permitted there divided the country. The Compromise of 1850 gave southerners access to the territories and enacted a fugitive slave law that many northerners opposed, including some who had supported it to preserve the union. Northern whites, free blacks and fugitive slaves resisted enforcement.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed the ban on slavery in the remaining unorganized territories; in 1857, the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision held territorial bans on slavery unconstitutional. Members of Congress carried weapons, and Representative Preston Brooks nearly killed Senator Charles Sumner with a cane. Contributors are Spencer R. Crew, Paul Finkelman, Matthew Glassman, Amy S.

Greenberg, Martin J. Hershock, Michael F. Holt, Brooks D. Simpson and Jenny Wahl. SKU sku-16634464.