by Charles Adams
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Product Description
Including a new afterword by the author, this bold and controversial book will not only change how historians think about the causes of the Civil War but will place its powerful legacy into proper perspective.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 A great history of the political questions of the civil war, 2008-04-18
I just finished this book yesterday. I have found that there is already 50+ 5 star reviews of this book, but I could not refrain from writing one myself.
This book was simply amazing. I could hardly put it down. It is definetly NOT a history of the Civil War, from a military standpoint. It IS a history of the War from a political standpoint. The major arguement is whether secession is legal or not under Constitutional law. That is a question best left to the book. Though the author does make a pretty strong arguement in favor of secession being legal. Using historical precedents that predate the war, as well as the thoughts on the subject concerning the Founders.
I will that I was impressed by all the new information about Lincoln that I had not known. The more I read about Lincoln, the REAL Lincoln, the less I like about him. This book also deals with the subject of Reconstruction. It is informative, and has sparked my interest in learning more about the period immediately following the war.
I give this book a well-earned 5 stars!
1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 When In The Course of Human Events, 2008-02-23
This is book seems to me like a manifesto on why the KKK was justified in terrorizing black people. Everyone who knows anything about Lincoln knows that he wasn't a racist but, he also was willing to do whatever had to be done to perserve the union. No President before or since has had to deal with such an issue. The man live through and extremely tough time period, politically and personally. I found this book offensive and demeaning to a historically great president. Our some of Charles Adams arguments true? Yes. But, to make such claims as the freed blacks brought on their harsh treatment after the Civil War is absurd. Racist and people who still believe the South will rise again, for whatever reason, will like this book.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Historical Work, 2007-12-29
As a historian, I have learned that the heart of any great work in history lies in the ample and accurate use of primary sources, and primary sources are the great strength of this work. While countless tomes have debated the perceived moral sides of the Civil War and the motivations of the various actors, this work goes back and investigates the motives of the primary players in this time from their own words and writings. This gives the work an excellent realism and accuracy.
The author, Charles Adams, has earned a reputation as one of the leading economic historians in the field, particularly in the area of taxes. He utilizes this background to investigate the American Civil War, and comes to some very striking conclusions, many that defy the politically-correct history of today. His thesis postulates that the Civil War had its primary cause not in slavery or state's rights, but rather in cold, hard economic concerns.
He shows that the North used its supremacy in Congress in push through massive tariffs to fund the government, and that these tariffs fell much harder on the export-dependent South than upon the insular north. In fact, the total revenue from the "Compromise" Tariffs on the 1830s and 40s amounted to $107.5 million, of which $90 million came from the South. Despite by this, the majority of the revenue was spent on projects far from the South.
According to Adams, this disparity finally pushed the South to seek its own independence. Supporting this conclusion is the fact that the South enacted extremely low tariffs throughout the war, whereas the north enacted the Morrill Tariff of 1861, which enacted tariffs of as much as 50 percent on some goods.
Adams also chronicles the oft-overlooked excesses of the Lincoln Administration, and compares them to the actions of Julius Caesar. While this initially made me quite skeptical, his plentiful, primary source-based examples overcame my qualms. Using the letters and reports of the times, he tells how Lincoln suspended habeus corpus, trod roughshod over the Constitution, jailed thousands of U.S. citizens who dared disagree with him and even wrote a warrant for the arrest of the Chief Justice of the United States.
Adams also ably uses the viewpoints of British and other Europeans to describe different contemporary views on the struggle. These provide excellent outside insight.
On the whole, readers will find the book a superb and scholarly analysis, providing fresh insights into the motivations and causes of the defining war in American history.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Southern Schools Should Teach This, 2007-12-18
This book was superb. I would write a short description and/or critique; however, much of what I have to say has been covered in earlier reviews. Every student in the south should be required to read this book. Our ancestors were not traitors. We held the true government of the founding fathers on our backs in every battle.
5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Ok,not a review really but..., 2007-11-28
Southrons, hear your country call you!
Up, lest worse than death befall you!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Lo! All the beacon-fires are lighted,
Let all hearts be now united!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie!
To Arms! To Arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie
To Arms! To Arms
And conquer peace for Dixie
Hear the Northern thunders mutter!
Northern flags in South winds flutter!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Send them back your fierce defiance!
Stamp upon the accursed alliance!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie!
To Arms! To Arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie
To Arms! To Arms
And conquer peace for Dixie
Fear no danger! Shun no labor!
Lift up rifle, pike and saber!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Shoulder pressing close to shoulder,
Let the odds make each heart bolder!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie!
To Arms! To Arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie
To Arms! To Arms
And conquer peace for Dixie
Swear upon our country's altar
Never to submit or to falter,
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Till the spoilers are defeated,
Till the Lord's work is completed!
To arms ! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie!
To Arms! To Arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie
To Arms! To Arms
And conquer peace for Dixie
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