Also in the 1830s, Potter refers to the abolitionists as everything from “abusive” to “humanitarian.” To be fair, he only describes them as “abusive” from the Southerners’ perspective. The perceived threat of enslaved people rising against their captors created a climate of paranoia, hindering critical examinations of slavery. Alas, Potter offers a level of patience to the pro-slavery ideologies that he does not award to the anti-slavery movement, and as a result, his unbalanced intellectual history deflects attention from the institution of slavery as the primary catalyst for the war.įollowing Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in 1831, Potter explains an “intellectual blockade” among southern slaveholders. Potter delves into antebellum political philosophies to explain events, devoting a significant portion of his narrative to politicians’ reasoning. A central takeaway is the importance of considering how antebellum Americans viewed each step as it unfolded, apart from the war and without hindsight. Potter synthesizes key events leading to the American Civil War. In The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861, historian David M. student at American University and current S-USIH Secretary. Potter’s Unbalanced Intellectual History in The Impending Crisisīy Rebecca Brenner, a Ph.D. For part two, by Keri Leigh Merritt, go here. The following is part four in our ongoing roundtable on David Potter’s The Impending Crisis.
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