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America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink
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 minority in Kansas Territory tried to foist a proslavery constitution on a large antislavery majority, President Buchanan reneged on a crucial commitment and supported the minority, a disastrous miscalculation which ultimately split the Democratic party in two.
In America in 1857, eminent American historian Kenneth Stampp offers a sweeping narrative of this eventful year, covering all the major crises while providing readers with a vivid portrait of America at mid-century. Stampp gives us a fascinating account of the attempt by William Walker and his band of filibusters to conquer Nicaragua and make it a slave state, of crime and corruption, and of street riots by urban gangs such as New York's Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys and Baltimore's Plug Uglies and Blood Tubs. But the focus continually returns to Kansas. He examines the outrageous political frauds perpetrated by proslavery Kansans, Buchanan's calamitous response and Stephen Douglas's break with the President (a rare event in American politics, a major party leader repudiating the president he helped elect), and the whirl of congressional votes and dramatic debates that led to a settlement humiliating to Buchanan--and devastating to the Democrats.
1857 marked a turning point, at which sectional conflict spun out of control and the country moved rapidly toward the final violent resolution in the Civil War. Stampp's intensely focused look at this pivotal year illuminates the forces at work and the mood of the nation as it plummeted toward disaster.
In America in 1857, eminent American historian Kenneth Stampp offers a sweeping narrative of this eventful year, covering all the major crises while providing readers with a vivid portrait of America at mid-century. Stampp gives us a fascinating account of the attempt by William Walker and his band of filibusters to conquer Nicaragua and make it a slave state, of crime and corruption, and of street riots by urban gangs such as New York's Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys and Baltimore's Plug Uglies and Blood Tubs. But the focus continually returns to Kansas. He examines the outrageous political frauds perpetrated by proslavery Kansans, Buchanan's calamitous response and Stephen Douglas's break with the President (a rare event in American politics, a major party leader repudiating the president he helped elect), and the whirl of congressional votes and dramatic debates that led to a settlement humiliating to Buchanan--and devastating to the Democrats.
1857 marked a turning point, at which sectional conflict spun out of control and the country moved rapidly toward the final violent resolution in the Civil War. Stampp's intensely focused look at this pivotal year illuminates the forces at work and the mood of the nation as it plummeted toward disaster.
778 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Kenneth M. Stampp
30 books9 followersKenneth Milton Stampp, Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, was a celebrated historian of slavery, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 26, 2020
In this excellent account, Stampp describes the pivotal developments of 1857, the year in which the American Civil War perhaps became inevitable. The year opened with the inauguration of James Buchanan who, on paper, appeared to be very well prepared to assume the presidency. Sadly, he proved to be a miserable disappointment and historians generally rate him as one of the worst presidents in American history.
By the middle 1850s, the debate between those who supported the institution of slavery in America and those who opposed its expansion into the western territories, if not it's outright abolition, had reached a fever pitch. Shortly after Buchanan's inauguration, the Supreme Court threw gasoline on the fire with the Dred Scott Decision, which argued that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional and which further ruled that black people, by virtue of their color, were not eligible for citizenship in the United States.
The year also included a disastrous economic collapse and a major conflict between the federal government and the Mormons who had settled in the Utah Territory. But dwarfing all of these in significance was the battle over slavery in the Kansas Territory.
Pro and anti-slavery forces had flooded into the territory, determined to make Kansas either a slave or a free state, and considerable violence had erupted there. The pro-slavery forces had effectively rigged an election to dominate a convention that met in Lecompton, Kansas, to design a proposed constitution for the state. Buchanan had earlier promised that he would not accept a constitution from Kansas unless the people of the territory had first approved it.
The convention produced a constitution that would have, as a practical matter, made Kansas a slave state, irrespective of what a majority of the citizens wished. The anti-slavery forces boycotted the election as a blatant fraud and the constitution was thus adopted by the Kansans who did vote.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of Kansas settlers opposed slavery and in spite of his earlier promise, Buchanan yielded to the pro-slavery southerners and urged Congress to accept the constitution and admit Kansas as a slave state. The result of his ill-advised action was to split the Democratic party in two, roil the nation, and encourage the rise of the new Republican party, which would win the presidency in 1860 as a result of the turmoil.
Stampp's account is thoroughly researched and beautifully written, and at a time when the nation is so badly divided again, this book serves as a reminder that we've been there before. In the years following 1857, the nation would be plunged into a bitter civil war that would cost the lives of nearly 700,000 Americans. In the midst of our present turmoil, it may be some small comfort to know that we somehow managed to survive even that.
By the middle 1850s, the debate between those who supported the institution of slavery in America and those who opposed its expansion into the western territories, if not it's outright abolition, had reached a fever pitch. Shortly after Buchanan's inauguration, the Supreme Court threw gasoline on the fire with the Dred Scott Decision, which argued that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional and which further ruled that black people, by virtue of their color, were not eligible for citizenship in the United States.
The year also included a disastrous economic collapse and a major conflict between the federal government and the Mormons who had settled in the Utah Territory. But dwarfing all of these in significance was the battle over slavery in the Kansas Territory.
Pro and anti-slavery forces had flooded into the territory, determined to make Kansas either a slave or a free state, and considerable violence had erupted there. The pro-slavery forces had effectively rigged an election to dominate a convention that met in Lecompton, Kansas, to design a proposed constitution for the state. Buchanan had earlier promised that he would not accept a constitution from Kansas unless the people of the territory had first approved it.
The convention produced a constitution that would have, as a practical matter, made Kansas a slave state, irrespective of what a majority of the citizens wished. The anti-slavery forces boycotted the election as a blatant fraud and the constitution was thus adopted by the Kansans who did vote.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of Kansas settlers opposed slavery and in spite of his earlier promise, Buchanan yielded to the pro-slavery southerners and urged Congress to accept the constitution and admit Kansas as a slave state. The result of his ill-advised action was to split the Democratic party in two, roil the nation, and encourage the rise of the new Republican party, which would win the presidency in 1860 as a result of the turmoil.
Stampp's account is thoroughly researched and beautifully written, and at a time when the nation is so badly divided again, this book serves as a reminder that we've been there before. In the years following 1857, the nation would be plunged into a bitter civil war that would cost the lives of nearly 700,000 Americans. In the midst of our present turmoil, it may be some small comfort to know that we somehow managed to survive even that.
April 23, 2020
The year 1857 has long been recognized as an important one in the start of the Civil War, and the author does a good job at figuring out why this was the case in a complex discussion of the biggest stories of the time within the United States. One of the aspects of this book that is particularly interesting is the way that the author uses a current events and reportage approach to examining what happened with the historical benefit of hindsight to point out how it was that these current events ended up shaping the next few years and how it could have gone differently if other decisions had been made. Blending a discussion of the political and economic together, the book shows how fragile and divided the United States already was and how the division and fractiousness of the United States as a whole was also connected to the fractiousness of other institutions within the United States like churches and political parties. The same causes were responsible for dividing the nation as a whole as well as those institutions which in normal times would have gone about their normal business without much fuss. The book demonstrates the crisis point that had already been reached and some of the more decisive attempts to wrestle with this crisis and deal with it that were ultimately unsuccessful in avoiding conflict.
This book is more than 300 pages long and contains twelve chapters that look, in a generally chronological fashion, at the most important political aspects of 1857 in the United States. The book begins with a sense of optimism and a fresh start with the lame duck session of Congress that ended the term of Franklin Pierce as president (1). The author discusses politics and its role within the social milieu of the United States (2) as well as the realities and pressures that were placed upon the president-elect James Buchanan in trying to fairly apportion positions to supporters and various cliques and factions within the Democratic party (3). The author discusses the Dred Scott decision and the hostility that it invoked as well as the historical context of the case itself and how it became about so much more than the fate of an obscure black family from the Midwest (4). There is a discussion of the heart of the matter of slavery and sectionalism (5) as well as a look at popular sovereignty in Kansas and the difficulties that were resulting from the mistrust between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces there (6). A chapter on the dog days of summer includes a discussion of violence in Utah (7) before the author discusses the brief panic of 1857 and its different results in the North and South (8). After that the author discusses the local and state elections of the North that showed a certain equal state between Democrat and Republican (9) before the book reaches a tragic conclusion in its last three chapters with a look at the farce of the Lecompton constitution (10), the tragedy of Buchanan's decision to try to force it through Congress to defend the slave power (11), and the bitter fruits that resulted in early 1858 from this error (12), after which the author includes manuscripts and newspapers consulted in writing this work as well as abbreviations used, notes, and an index.
One cannot help but read a book like this with some deep sadness and foreboding given the way that things would turn out. Able and honest men sought to avoid conflict in places like Kansas and Utah and to deal justly with complex situations where a great deal of mistrust existed towards the federal government and towards fellow citizens and neighbors. Efforts to preserve political power on the part of the administration ran afoul of the tensions and pressure to defend the insecure foundations of plantation slavery in an insecure South. And even those parties like the Whigs which were clearly on the way out sought to exploit economic and political causes to stay relevant, finding out that their desire to preserve law and order and unity within the United States was threatened by the violent disorder and anarchy brought upon urban communities through the nativist lynch mobs that were called "plug uglies." Stampp does a great job in showing the complexity of American life and politics in 1857, and it is a work that deserves to be read by those who would understand the way that politics works during crisis periods of deep division where people are constrained by political realities to do that which only inflames the crisis they experience.
This book is more than 300 pages long and contains twelve chapters that look, in a generally chronological fashion, at the most important political aspects of 1857 in the United States. The book begins with a sense of optimism and a fresh start with the lame duck session of Congress that ended the term of Franklin Pierce as president (1). The author discusses politics and its role within the social milieu of the United States (2) as well as the realities and pressures that were placed upon the president-elect James Buchanan in trying to fairly apportion positions to supporters and various cliques and factions within the Democratic party (3). The author discusses the Dred Scott decision and the hostility that it invoked as well as the historical context of the case itself and how it became about so much more than the fate of an obscure black family from the Midwest (4). There is a discussion of the heart of the matter of slavery and sectionalism (5) as well as a look at popular sovereignty in Kansas and the difficulties that were resulting from the mistrust between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces there (6). A chapter on the dog days of summer includes a discussion of violence in Utah (7) before the author discusses the brief panic of 1857 and its different results in the North and South (8). After that the author discusses the local and state elections of the North that showed a certain equal state between Democrat and Republican (9) before the book reaches a tragic conclusion in its last three chapters with a look at the farce of the Lecompton constitution (10), the tragedy of Buchanan's decision to try to force it through Congress to defend the slave power (11), and the bitter fruits that resulted in early 1858 from this error (12), after which the author includes manuscripts and newspapers consulted in writing this work as well as abbreviations used, notes, and an index.
One cannot help but read a book like this with some deep sadness and foreboding given the way that things would turn out. Able and honest men sought to avoid conflict in places like Kansas and Utah and to deal justly with complex situations where a great deal of mistrust existed towards the federal government and towards fellow citizens and neighbors. Efforts to preserve political power on the part of the administration ran afoul of the tensions and pressure to defend the insecure foundations of plantation slavery in an insecure South. And even those parties like the Whigs which were clearly on the way out sought to exploit economic and political causes to stay relevant, finding out that their desire to preserve law and order and unity within the United States was threatened by the violent disorder and anarchy brought upon urban communities through the nativist lynch mobs that were called "plug uglies." Stampp does a great job in showing the complexity of American life and politics in 1857, and it is a work that deserves to be read by those who would understand the way that politics works during crisis periods of deep division where people are constrained by political realities to do that which only inflames the crisis they experience.
March 6, 2016
This is an extraordinary book and a necessary one for anyone who is interested in in the Civil War and the fascinating and inexorable decades that lead up to the secession of the Southern States. Focusing on one year, this is a dense read- packed with information and characters who shaped their time. As Stampp carefully illustrates, 1857 was the year that the pro-Slavery plutocrats of the Southern states reached their zenith of national power [by this time the South had become a plutocracy, run by and for the "10,000" families - the wealthiest group in the Nation representing less than 25% of the population of the Southern states]. They controlled the only national political party at the time, the Democratic party, and through that party controlled the Executive branch and the Supreme Court. This was the year of the Dred Scott Decision, which was widely condemned at the time as judicial activism. Finally with the issue of Popular Sovereignty in the territory of Kansas, the Democratic party began to break apart. The newly formed Republican Party, which sought to prevent the spread of slavery in the territories, would then come to power in the election of 1860. Highly recommended.
March 8, 2022
America in 1857:
Mr. Stampp obviously knows his subject. He provided a great deal of detail about every aspect of this pivotal time in US history.
Perhaps sometimes too much detail. There were some events which could have profited from a bit of brevity.
The book is an excellent source. It could likely be the basis for a college level class.
Mr. Stampp obviously knows his subject. He provided a great deal of detail about every aspect of this pivotal time in US history.
Perhaps sometimes too much detail. There were some events which could have profited from a bit of brevity.
The book is an excellent source. It could likely be the basis for a college level class.
July 18, 2016
In a previous book review (of Michael Grant's History of Rome), I criticized the book for covering more material than could be addressed well within the bounds of a single volume. America in 1857, I believe, suffers from the opposite flaw: it covers a concentrated series of events at such length that what is significant tends to get lost amid the welter of detail.
At the beginning of 1857, America was solidly held together as a single nation. The Democratic Party was the nation's sole national party, consisting of a pro-slavery southern wing and a northern wing that sought to accommodate slaveholders as a way to hold the party, and the nation, together. The newly-formed Republican Party predominated in the northern states and was both strongly anti-slavery and pro-Union. Other parties such as the Whigs, who had formed a powerful force during the 1840s and early 1850s, were in the process of dissolution. By the end of the year, the Democrats had fractured into competing northern and southern factions, the Republicans were more ardently anti-slavery than ever, and men of all political stripes had largely given up on reaching a compromise that could hold the nation together. It was only a matter of time before open hostilities broke out at Fort Sumter.
It is an important story, but the important events and their causes (weak leadership from President James Buchanan and the inherent incompatibility between the grand words of the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution and the institution of slavery) sometimes are obscured by the mass of detail concerning day-to-day political maneuvering in Washington D.C. America in 1857, thus, is a worthwhile book, but may have made a better journal article.
At the beginning of 1857, America was solidly held together as a single nation. The Democratic Party was the nation's sole national party, consisting of a pro-slavery southern wing and a northern wing that sought to accommodate slaveholders as a way to hold the party, and the nation, together. The newly-formed Republican Party predominated in the northern states and was both strongly anti-slavery and pro-Union. Other parties such as the Whigs, who had formed a powerful force during the 1840s and early 1850s, were in the process of dissolution. By the end of the year, the Democrats had fractured into competing northern and southern factions, the Republicans were more ardently anti-slavery than ever, and men of all political stripes had largely given up on reaching a compromise that could hold the nation together. It was only a matter of time before open hostilities broke out at Fort Sumter.
It is an important story, but the important events and their causes (weak leadership from President James Buchanan and the inherent incompatibility between the grand words of the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution and the institution of slavery) sometimes are obscured by the mass of detail concerning day-to-day political maneuvering in Washington D.C. America in 1857, thus, is a worthwhile book, but may have made a better journal article.
June 30, 2017
By reading this book, I have determined that ‘state rights’ is typically a euphemism for a minority population’s desire to do something the majority of our union believe heinous. In this case, it was slavery. Yet throughout history, there have been many other examples. The issues of the past are often fought with the same vigor as we see today. Make no mistake; today’s political discourse is not unusual.
This book delves into a single year in American history, and shows how the political divides and ignorance almost tore our nation apart. Unfortunately, the work is an assembled mess of information pulled from various news articles and legal briefings of the time. This makes the work tiring to read unless one happens to be an avid Civil War scholar. The work lists a multitude of characters that never really develop relations with the reader, making it difficult to follow at times.
In addition, the work is presented in a parliamentary fashion, which always comes across as dry. Try as I might, I could not get into this work, save for the history surrounding the financial Panic of 1857. Others will more than likely disagree, but I believe most people would find this work more of a task than something to be enjoyed.
This book delves into a single year in American history, and shows how the political divides and ignorance almost tore our nation apart. Unfortunately, the work is an assembled mess of information pulled from various news articles and legal briefings of the time. This makes the work tiring to read unless one happens to be an avid Civil War scholar. The work lists a multitude of characters that never really develop relations with the reader, making it difficult to follow at times.
In addition, the work is presented in a parliamentary fashion, which always comes across as dry. Try as I might, I could not get into this work, save for the history surrounding the financial Panic of 1857. Others will more than likely disagree, but I believe most people would find this work more of a task than something to be enjoyed.
July 19, 2020
"In the summer of 1857 skeptical foreign visitors could have found cause for amusement at America's self-image as a model republic, a beacon of hope for all mankind. Consider what they might have observed or read about in the press: southern proslavery extremists discussing the reopening of the African slave trade; deadly election-day Plug Ugly rioting in the nation's capital; William Walker recruiting a band of filibusters to invade Nicaragua; Governor Walker threatening the 'insurrectionary' citizens of Lawrence with military occupation; an army marching westward to protect the legally appointed governor of Utah Territory; Brigham Young shaking his fist in angry defiance; a body of Saints massacring a party of 'gentiles.' That was not all. For two weeks in July, the streets of New York City were the scene of rioting and bloodshed." (208)
"... [T]here was not significant difference between his own outlook [Buchanan's] and that of the Southerners in his Cabinet. They shared an extreme dislike of abolitionists and Republicans, and they saw no great wrong in the existence of black slavery. ... The conclusion seems warranted that Buchanan's policy, while pleasing to most Southerners, was nevertheless his policy, not one forced upon him by others." (285)
"... [T]here was not significant difference between his own outlook [Buchanan's] and that of the Southerners in his Cabinet. They shared an extreme dislike of abolitionists and Republicans, and they saw no great wrong in the existence of black slavery. ... The conclusion seems warranted that Buchanan's policy, while pleasing to most Southerners, was nevertheless his policy, not one forced upon him by others." (285)
June 24, 2024
An incredibly detailed description of events during 1857. The author does an amazing job highlighting the political landscape of the Buchanan Presidency with regards to the Panic of 1857, the Mormons in the Utah territory and the outright fraud committed in Kansas that led to the Lecompton Constitution. If any of those topics interest you, or you need to confirm that slavery is the reason behind the Civil War, this book is for you.
July 21, 2022
An excellent political account that will leave the reader wondering if the nation was cursed or lucky that James Buchanan was a stubborn, rigid fool. Without him and his treatment of the Lecompton (Kansas) constitution affair, the Democrats might have held together to win the 1860 election, or deny it to Lincoln....
February 14, 2023
This book was written for an undergraduate history major or a graduate student in history, not for the general reader. It is dense, too detailed, and just plain boring!
October 9, 2016
A solid, heavy read about one of the most extraordinary years in American history. If you think the issues and passion of this year's election is unprecedented, well you are incorrect. The book concentrates on several issues, delving deeply into them. I started it in January, put it down due to graduate school reading requirements and then picked it up again. I ended up making it my "bathroom book," which allowed me to digest it in small bites. It took me about three weeks of reading to finish it and by that time I felt I knew Stephen Douglas, James Buchanan and the supporting characters better than I ever had before.
Worth the read if you love history, if not try something lighter.
Worth the read if you love history, if not try something lighter.
August 31, 2016
Interesting book that shines light on the pivotal year of 1857. This book covers some often neglected events of American history in that time; the Mormon exodus, the growing sectional crisis in the Kansas territory, the social upheaval brought on by the Abolitionist Movement in both the North and the South. I was very pleased with the book in that it made me see a much broader, much more complicated tapestry of events leading up to secession.
December 1, 2014
Kenneth Stampp's 1857 details the climatic year that brought Dred Scott, the '57 depression and the Kansas crisis. Buchanan utterly failed in the latter presaging his collapse in face of secession. Fine read.
September 4, 2023
I read this back when it was published. Stampp did an excellent job of summarizing the major crises of 1857 in the USA, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the American Civil War, or just American history.
January 8, 2014
America in 1857 explains the setup for the Civil War, including an excellent analysis of the Dred Scott Decision. This book persuasively argues that by 1857 the Civil War was inevitable.
July 12, 2016
To properly understand the American Civil War, one must first understand what America has endured in the years leading up to it. This study of American politics and economy in 1857 is a must-read.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews