America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink
by Kenneth M. Stampp
On This Page
Description
It was a year packed with unsettling events. The Panic of 1857 closed every bank in New York City, ruined thousands of businesses, and caused widespread unemployment among industrial workers. The Mormons in Utah Territory threatened rebellion when federal troops approached with a non-Mormon governor to replace Brigham Young. The Supreme Court outraged northern Republicans and abolitionists with the Dred Scott decision (""a breathtaking example of judicial activism""). And when a proslavery show more minority in Kansas Territory tried to foist a proslavery constitution on a large antislavery majority, show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
MrStamp is an eminent scholar, no doubt, but this book has nothing that encourages the reader to continue. The is no meter; no pace. He starts in December 1856 and circles around the whole previous 5 to 15 years. I can't say that I enjoyed this book, learned anything new, or will remember it for anything but a very tedious read. Sorry I can't say anything more positive, but he really dashed my hopes and tried my patience.
2401 America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink, by Kenneth M. Stampp (read 10 Aug 1991) This is an assiduous digging into contemporary sources to tell the story of the year of the Dred Scott decision, Kansas, and the 1857 Panic. It did not seem to say much new. I seemed to know most of what it said, so I really can't say I enjoyed the book too much.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
14+ Works 2,114 Members
A native of Milwaukee, Kenneth Stampp received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1941 and then taught at the University of Arkansas and the University of Maryland. In 1945 he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley, where he is currently Morrison Professor Emeritus of American History. Stampp has served as show more Harmsworth Professor at Oxford, Commonwealth Lecturer at the University of London, Fulbright Professor at the University of Munich, and visiting professor at Harvard University and Colgate University and Williams College. A past president of the Organization of American Historians, in 1993 he received the Lincoln Prize from the Lincoln and Soldiers Institute of Gettysburg College. Stampp touched off a revolution in the study of slavery with the publication of The Peculiar Institution (1956), which vigorously refutes the long-prevailing Dunning-Phillips interpretation and demolishes a host of myths about the master-slave relationship. His further works on the sectional conflict and its causes established him as a leading authority on that subject as well. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1990
- Important places
- USA
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 973.6 — History & geography History of North America United States Antebellum Era (1845-1857)
- LCC
- E436 .S78 — History of the United States United States Revolution to the Civil War, 1775/1783-1861 By period Middle nineteenth century, 1845/1848-1861 Buchanan's administration, 1857-1861
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 269
- Popularity
- 119,696
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.52)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 4
