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America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That Preserved the Union
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Author
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Fergus M. Bordewich.
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Publisher
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Simon & Schuster
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Format
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hardcover
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Product Dimensions
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9.5
x
6.5
x
1.5
inches
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ISBN
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9781439124604
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Pages/Publication Date
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480/2012
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Daedalus Item Code
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23760
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This item is not available.
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Description
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The Mexican War introduced vast new territories into the United States, among them California and the present-day Southwest. When gold was discovered in California in the 1849 gold rush, the population of the region swelled, and settlers petitioned for admission to the Union. But the U.S. Senate was precariously balanced with 15 free states and 15 slave states—would California be free or slave? So began a paralyzing crisis in American government, and the longest debate in Senate history. Fergus Bordewich's vigorous history of the Compromise of 1850 brings to life two generations of senators—the old guard, represented by John Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay, and rising stars like Jefferson Davis, William Seward, and Stephen Douglas—who would shape the country's politics as slavery gradually fractured the nation. "Anyone whose eyes have glazed over at the numbing details of the Compromise of 1850 should read this compelling narrative of that famous event. Focusing on the colorful personalities who fought out the issue of slavery on the floor of the Senate in 1850, Fergus Bordewich shows how they forged a settlement that avoided war but laid the groundwork for the Civil War that came a decade later."—James M. McPherson
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