The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861In the Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm 1820-1861, biographer and historian Stephen B. Oates tells the story of the coming of the American Civil War through the voices and from the viewpoints of thirteen principal players in the drama, from Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay in the Missouri crisis of 1820 down to Stephen A. Douglas, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln in the final crisis of 1861. This unique approach shows the crucial role that perception of events played in the sectional hostilities that bore the United States irreversibly toward a national smashup. In addition to Jefferson, Clay, Douglas, Davis and Lincoln, other speakers and participants are Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, John C. Calhoun, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Fitzhugh, John Brown, and Mary Boykin Chesnut. Each character takes his or her turn onstage, serving as narrator for critical events in which he or she was the major instigator and participant or eyewitness. In writing the dramatic monologues, Oates drew on the actual words of his speaker - their letter, speeches, interviews, recollection, and other recorded utterances - and then simulated how, if they were reminiscing aloud, they would describe the crucial events in which they were the principal actors or witnesses. All the events and themes in the monologues adhere to the actual historical record. |
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Page 138
... exist happily and normally until it is qualified by the introduc- tion of some principle equivalent in effect to the institution of south- ern negro slavery . ” The Muscogee ( Alabama ) Herald : " Free Society ! We sicken of the name ...
... exist happily and normally until it is qualified by the introduc- tion of some principle equivalent in effect to the institution of south- ern negro slavery . ” The Muscogee ( Alabama ) Herald : " Free Society ! We sicken of the name ...
Page 206
... exist in the state of Kansas except that the right of property in slaves now in this territory shall in no measure ... exist in Kansas and it would be a slave state . The convention also created a provisional government in place of the ...
... exist in the state of Kansas except that the right of property in slaves now in this territory shall in no measure ... exist in Kansas and it would be a slave state . The convention also created a provisional government in place of the ...
Page 227
... exist " in this country , and that " the one must give way and cease to exist , the other become universal " ? Who could believe Toombs when George Fitzhugh advocated the eradication of free labor and the enslave- ment of all workers ...
... exist " in this country , and that " the one must give way and cease to exist , the other become universal " ? Who could believe Toombs when George Fitzhugh advocated the eradication of free labor and the enslave- ment of all workers ...
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abolition abolitionism abolitionist American asked believe bill Black Republicans Boston Buchanan Calhoun called Charleston civil Clay colonization Committee Congress Constitution convention cried Crittenden crowd damned Davis debate declared delegates Democratic party disunion doctrine Douglass Dred Scott decision election emancipation equality Federal Fort Sumter free-state Freeport doctrine friends fugitive slave Garrison Goddamned Harpers Ferry Henry House Illinois institutions Jefferson John Brown Judge Douglas Kansas Kansas-Nebraska Act Kentucky Lecompton Lecompton constitution Liberator liberty Lincoln majority Mississippi Missouri Compromise moral Nebraska Negro never nigger nomination North northern peace platform political popular sovereignty President principle proslavery question race secede secession Senate Seward Slave Power slaveholding slavery Society South Carolina southern speech Springfield Sumter tell territories thought tion told took Toombs Trumbull Union United Varina Virginia vote Washington Whig Wilmot Proviso WLGL wrong wrote York