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358CIVIL WAR HISTORY burners, like Preston King, were "most deeply committed to free soil for its own sake," but offers no proof of the assertion. Morrison himself admits (p. 75) that "in spite of the general appeal of the Wilmot Proviso in the North, the Barnburners were much less successful in keeping the territorial issue before the public dian Calhoun and his supporters in the South." And even in the Soudi, Calhoun had limited success with his Southern Rights movement. What Morrison does demonstrate is the ability of Democratic party regulars to silence the agitation over slavery expansion in the interest of party unity. In light of Zachary Taylor's own ambiguity on die matter, it would appear difficult to conclude that Democratic defeat in 1848 reflected a repudiation of die party's compromise on matters of slavery expansion. Certainly party victories in 1852 and 1856 demonstrated that popular sovereignty did help Democrats survive as a united party for anodier dozen years. Richard H. Abbott Eastern Michigan University New Orleans and the Railroads: The Struggle for Commercial Empire , 1830-1860. By Merl E. Reed. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966. Pp. 172. $5.00.) Students of American history have long been intrigued by die almost imperceptible shift in the main direction of western trade and commerce prior to the Civil War. The reorientation of this trade away from the Mississippi River and toward die new canals and railroads of die North and East is viewed as a development of major significance by economic historians and diose primarily concerned with die coming of die war. New Orleans and the Railroads helps to explain why this happened and why so little effort was put forward to arrest the movement. This book, which presents a chapter in die economic history of Louisiana, adds to our knowledge of die "river psychology" which refused to worry about the challenges farther north, even as it describes die role played by certain Louisiana business leaders in their efforts to expand the commercial empire of dieir region. The coming of railroads to Louisiana in the 1830's was a part of the nation-wide internal improvements dream, which, as in so many other states, soon became a nightmare. After an optimistic beginning, die major line to Nashville failed, and, unfortunately, die public funds gathered for rail construction were spent on ineffective short lines. The lines which survived the 1830's were reduced to mere "appendages of the waterways" as a result of shortages of money and supplies , an inadequacy of trained business leaders, and a scarcity of labor. While the 1840's represented a period of retrenchment and drift in railroad matters, the 1850's found an increasing number of businessmen and politicians arriving at die conclusion diat railroads were essential to Louisiana's economic welfare. One result was die completion of the Great Western line some eighty miles west from New Orleans to Berwick Bay, BOOK REVIEWS359 while the more successful New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad pushed northward toward the Ohio. With such capable figures as James Robb, Judah P. Benjamin, and John Slidell numbered among its sponsors, the connection made by this road with the Mississippi Central in 1858 "brought New Orleans into railroad contact with the rest of die nation before the Civil War." The reader may be a bit puzzled by some of the author's conclusions. We are told at one point (p. 130) that "In some respects, thirty years of railroad building in Louisiana ended in failure." Soon thereafter the point is made that the failure to reach immediate goals must not be allowed to overshadow "more important, long range achievements." Just what these long range achievements were is not made clear, and in any case the Civil War soon destroyed Louisiana's "existing foundation" and "shattered New Orleans' commercial empire." The volume seems to fall short of die normally high standard of bookmaking practiced by die Louisiana State University Press. The publisher, in providing one inadequate map and placing the notes at the end of the book, relieves the reader of the temptation to follow the narrative by means of series of maps or to examine the sources...

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