The great American struggle

The Mexican War brought new territories to the United States, which precipitated a growing crisis over slavery. The new territories seemed unsuitable for the type of agriculture that depended on slave labor, but they lay south of the line where slavery was permitted by the Missouri Compromise. Expanding slavery to the new territories became a flash point between North and South.

Beginning with the deaths of the great second-generation figures of American history—Calhoun, Webster, and Clay—Decade of Disunion tells the story of this great American struggle through the aims and fears of the subsequent prominent figures at the center of the drama, with particular attention to the key players from Massachusetts and South Carolina.

Review Quote

“With characteristic wisdom and grace, Robert W. Merry takes us back to critical hours in the history of American democracy, shedding new light on ancient questions that are, alas, urgent once more. To revisit how we fell apart in the nineteenth century can help us see the crises of the twenty-first more clearly.” —Jon Meacham

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