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'Champions Of Contending Armies': The Ancient Rivalry Between Massachusetts And South Carolina, 1829-1856, William Merrell
'Champions Of Contending Armies': The Ancient Rivalry Between Massachusetts And South Carolina, 1829-1856, William Merrell
All Theses
The focus of this work is the 'ancient rivalry' between Massachusetts and South Carolina, as it played out in the antebellum era. Although little attention has been devoted exclusively to the study of this rivalry, it exercised a considerable degree of influence over the nation on its path to civil war. Most notably, this rivalry directly impacted the emergence of an American national identity between 1830 and 1860. The self-perpetuating rivalry between South Carolina and Massachusetts helped define the parameters of American identity, and ensured the eventual exclusion of South Carolina from such an identity. Filtered through three specific episodes, …
Radical Politics In Revolutionary Times: The South Carolina Secession Convention And Executive Council Of 1862, Eric Lager
All Theses
This thesis examines the political culture and behavior in South Carolina during the secession crisis and first two years of the Civil War. Historians have analyzed antebellum politics in South Carolina but few recent attempts have been made to trace those issues to the larger narrative of state politics during the Civil War. I argue that serious political divisions existed in the Palmetto State during the sectional crisis over the proper method and procedure of secession. Once secession became a reality South Carolina politicians attempted to bury these differences for the sake of unity, but ultimately the pressures of war …