Antebellum Etc.
Nuanced dispatches on the culture wars before (and after) the Civil War.

Latest

Apr
11
Southern Unity Goes Up in Smoke

Southern Unity Goes Up in Smoke

The Nashville Convention of 1850 was supposed to undermine the two-party system in the South, achieving John C. Calhoun'
1 min read
Mar
30
Extremists Take Over in the Wake of the John Brown Raid

Extremists Take Over in the Wake of the John Brown Raid

This week's video introduces viewers to the "Secret Six," a group of Northern elites whose clandestine
6 min read
Mar
23
Whistler's West Point Experience

Whistler's West Point Experience

During Robert E. Lee's tenure as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in the
4 min read
Mar
15
Spanish Disintegration and the Old South

Spanish Disintegration and the Old South

In 1786, American foreign secretary John Jay and Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish foreign minister to the United States, negotiated
3 min read
Mar
06
Northern Ulterior Motives on Black Suffrage

Northern Ulterior Motives on Black Suffrage

Somewhat counterintuively, by the time the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, in 1870, black male suffrage had already come to all
7 min read
Jan
31
Confederate VP Backs Black Suffrage from Prison

Confederate VP Backs Black Suffrage from Prison

Although Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens owned slaves and argued that blacks themselves benefited from being enslaved, in a
1 min read
Dec
30
Resistance Not Rebellion: How Blacks Survived Slavery

Resistance Not Rebellion: How Blacks Survived Slavery

This week's episode looks at how antebellum black Americans survived slavery in the South and segregation fueled by
4 min read
Dec
23
Was the Civil War Really "About" Slavery?

Was the Civil War Really "About" Slavery?

This week's video looks at how Northern sympathizers and Southern sympathizers tend to talk past each other when
1 min read
Dec
02
Confederate Senator Yancey Juggles State Sovereignty with Military Necessity

Confederate Senator Yancey Juggles State Sovereignty with Military Necessity

This week's video wraps up my four-part series on the life of Alabama fire-eater William Lowndes Yancey. As
7 min read
Nov
25
How Seward's Blunders Nearly Led to British Recognition of the Confederacy

How Seward's Blunders Nearly Led to British Recognition of the Confederacy

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. I took last week off because I was on a road trip, never
5 min read