Pacifism in the United States, from the Colonial Era to the First World War (review)

BOOK REVIEWS269 tuais, especially Alexander Herzen and Nicholas Chernyshevskii. The radical Herzen, attracted to the spacious spirit of America yet critical of her bourgeois limitations, was to show a keen awareness of an issue central to the war: "the integrity of national power and authority"; he believed, Rogger says, that "the Democrats of the South fought for the slavery of the blacks and the Republicans of the North for the slavery whose name is indivisible state power." The Civil War had an extensive effect upon Canada, particularly in strengthening the confederation movement and giving the architects of a united Canada object lessons in problems of federalism to avoid. All this and the complexities of Canadian politics John A. Williams gives us in "Canada and the Civü War." One of many perceptive points in the essay is the contrast between the elusive locus of sovereignty for the Union to the south of Canada and the locus within the Empire. In "The Civil War and Latin America," Harry Bernstein brings his ample scholarship to what is the most difficult, perhaps, of the assignments: to discover the spots and flickerings of influence the Civü War had upon peoples who did not need to deal with the conflict in any steady diplomatic or intellectual way. Bernstein's findings could not be summed up, but he brings us, through his subject, into Latin American politics and culture. He mentions, for example, Lincoln and the Latin devotion to personalismo; for another, the admiration on the part of Latin liberals for an experience in which the civüian power, even in days of war and occupation, could maintain control of the müitary . What we learn here is what we learn from the whole of the project —that the Civü War and Reconstruction together were a rich moment in the recent history of politics, war, nationalism, and social experiment, heavy in its suggestiveness for any people who wished to study it. Joseph M. Hernon, Jr. University of Massachusetts, Amherst Pacifism in the United States, from the Colonial Era to the First World War. By Peter Brock. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968, Pp. xii, 1005. $18.50.) Quakers refer to important people as "weighty Friends." This is a weighty book in more than size, for it is a significant contribution to the history of pacifism in the United States. It could be described as three books in one, all tied together by a common thread which traces the activities, actions, and ideas of the historic peace churches and the major secular organizations and their supporters. While it concentrates upon Quakers, Mennonites, and Dunkers, it ranges over a sizeable number of other denominations and groups. The first "book" of 329 pages, provides abundant evidence of the problems faced by pacifists from earliest colonial times through the 270CIVIL WAR HISTORY Revolution. Their opposition to military service, taxes, and civil duties seemed continuous in the face of Indian uprisings, wars with foreign powers, and the struggle against the mother country. Brock provides abundant detailed examples of the many dilemmas individuals faced as they sought to reconcile their convictions with the realities of life. The second "book" of 533 pages continues to examine the problems of pacifists from 1783 through 1865. A new issue appeared, however, for most of the religious sects concerned with peace also opposed slavery . Brock's major contribution here lies in his exposition of the ideology of non-resistance which emerged, particularly in Garrisonian circles . A government which upheld war as well as an inhuman institution could not be supported, and the examples cited by the author have considerable relevance today. The slavery issue, however, broke the pacifist movement. After 1850 an increasing militancy emerged among peace workers in reaction to Bleeding Kansas, Harper's Ferry, and a Constitution which upheld slavery. The major groups disintegrated, and the examples of persons who shifted in their positions can only be described as startling. This meant that between 1861 and 1865 little opposition to the Civil War itself appeared from pacifist circles. Military service became the key issue both in the North and South. Brock offers evidence of harsh treatment of some conscientious objectors, but the general attitude and actions...