Booknotes: Antebellum America, 1787-1861

New Arrival:

• Antebellum America, 1787-1861: A Sourcebook on States' Rights, Limited Government, Slavery, Political Violence and the Road to Civil War compiled and edited by Thomas J. Ebert & Allen Carden (McFarland, 2025).

Intended to be paired with 2022's Abraham Lincoln and His Times: A Sourcebook on His Life, His Presidency, Slavery and Civil War, this is the second historical document reference book from Ebert and Carden. Antebellum America, 1787-1861: A Sourcebook on States' Rights, Limited Government, Slavery, Political Violence and the Road to Civil War "is a documentary sourcebook that provides a roadmap to the antebellum era. The primary documents assembled herein describe how slavery became intertwined with the antebellum arguments over the nature of the federal constitution, whether it created a national government or a loose confederation of states."

From the description: "The emphatic opinions on both sides of" debates surrounding the relationship between states and the federal government "are highlighted in the documents compiled in this book. Also highlighted is the evolution of the pro-slavery argument that the institution of slavery was a social positive and should be preserved." The key documents compiled in the volume are organized into four time intervals: the "Federalist Era," the "Age of Jefferson," the "Age of Jackson," and the "Road to Civil War," the last representing the period from March 1849 to April 1861.

The book's lengthy preface describes the volume's content and thematic intent. The editors provide additional introductory text at the beginning of each chapter. More from the description: there are "more than 145 documents presented" in the book."Many of these documents have not been included in prior collections of antebellum documents, and taken together provide a fresh perspective on this tumultuous era in American history." For added contextualization, the documents are wedded within a running timeline of political and judicial events. There are also scattered footnotes containing either source citations or brief additional commentary. Finally, a large set of biographical sketches of individuals associated with the documents and their creation are collected in an appendix.