Originally published on July 10, 2023 (Episode 324)
Introduction
Historians love to carve time into neat boxes: the long 18th century, the short 19th, antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction. But what if those divisions obscure more than they reveal?
Paul Escott’s new book The Civil War Political Tradition: Ten Portraits of Those That Formed It (Virginia, 2023) rejects such divisions. Instead, it explores how figures across these years embodied or resisted a political culture that emphasized individual ambition, short-term thinking, compromise, and pragmatic deal-making. This tradition could manage day-to-day or year-to-year disputes, but proved unable to resolve the deeper crisis over slavery and race.
In this episode, Escott profiles ten Americans—very different in their politics, but all bound to or pitted against that shared political culture. The result is a broader view of the American 19th century and a reminder of the limits of pragmatism when confronting moral crises.
About the Guest
Paul D. Escott is Reynolds Professor of History Emeritus at Wake Forest University. He is the author of numerous works on the Civil War era, including Slavery Remembered, The Worst Passions of Human Nature, and most recently Black Suffrage: Lincoln’s Last Goal. This is his second appearance on Historically Thinking.
For Further Investigation
The Civil War Political Tradition: Ten Portraits of Those That Formed It (Virginia, 2023)
For context, see last week’s episode on President Garfield, whose career was framed by the Civil War political tradition.
Related conversations
Paul Escott on Black Suffrage
Michael Burlingame on Abraham Lincoln’s racial attitudes (note that Burlingame and Escott diverge in their interpretations of Lincoln)
Albion Winegar Tourgée (1838–1905), Reconstruction-era novelist and activist
💬 Listen & Discuss
What does Escott mean by the “Civil War political tradition”? How does this tradition help explain both compromise and failure? Share this podcast with a friend interested in politics, or the American Civil War.
