Space, Time, and Freedom: The Quest for Nationality and the Irrepressible Conflict, 1815-1861 (review)

274BOOK REVIEWS On Lincoln's skill as a politician: "Lincoln's inclination was to make small decisions which sometimes had large consequences, some good, some bad; others preferred grander gestures and bolder designs which sometimes ended in anti-climax." On George B. McClellan as a general: "He had most of the talents, except the ability to put them to the greatest use." And finally, on the faults of Jefferson Davis: "Whereas Lincoln, against all expectation, grew with the terrific responsibilities which he bore, Davis struggled to maintain his old, not inconsiderable, stature under even more crushing burdens. He was admirably stoical, but stoicism was not enough." But the book has more than mere style and grace. It possesses solid substance, great knowledge digested into manageable form. Parish considers every aspect of the war, from its causes to its consequences . In between he treats such topics as the rival governments, the contrasting societies of North and South, the raising of the armies, diplomacy, finance, and naval developments. He is to be commended particularly for giving proper space to the land campaigns . Conceding that he is not interested in details of tactics, he nevertheless rejects "that opposing school of thought which is prepared to discuss the history of a war without mentioning anything so unpleasant as the actual fighting." His accounts of the battles are well done and his judgments on the factors determining their outcome are generally balanced. A similar balance marks his treatment of other phases of the war. Some American specialists may object that he accepts too readily some of the latest interpretations of war politics and Reconstruction, but they should recognize his obvious fairness of mind. In a concluding suggestive chapter Parish assesses what he calls "the enduring legacy" of the war. It was terribly important, he thinks, that the American Union survived: "The United States of the 1860's was ahead of its time in confronting the problems of democracy , liberty, and equality—that is why its ordeal mattered so much to other nations less advanced along the same road." We are indebted to this scholar from another land for reminding us of what Lincoln might have called this great truth. T. Harry Williams Louisiana State University Space, Time, and Freedom: The Quest for Nationality and the Irrepressible Conflict, 1815-1861. By Major L. Wilson. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1974. Pp. x, 309. $13.95.) In what he describes as a "venture in intellectual history," the author of this thoughtful and provocative book has probed the quality and BOOK REVIEWS275 nature of American nationalism during the early nineteenth century , from the end of the War of 1812 to the secession crisis of 186061 . Through an examination of the political rhetoric of the nation's "leading spokesmen" during these years, he hoped to discover not only what held Americans together but also why they were finally driven apart, if not to find definitive answers to the perennial question posed by the disunion crisis, at least to provide a context in which that crisis can be more clearly understood. He has relied principally upon the rhetoric of political debate in Congress, admittedly only one source for the determination of popular attitudes toward nation and nationhood but surely a representative one. To those who might complain that there is a significant gap between rhetoric and reality, Wilson correctly insists that political argument itself becomes reality, involving "shareable ways for people in society to perceive and act upon the realities of the common life." Taking Hans Kohn's statement as a cue—that the essence of American nationalism lay in the idea of freedom—Wilson has constructed his investigation around contending attitudes toward freedom. Webster's reply to Hayne, with which the book begins—"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"—provides the text for Wilson's effort "to focus upon the meaning which the debate over freedom gave to the Union." Notions concerning freedom and its relation to Union invariably sprang from certain assumptions about the nature of progress and these, in turn, gave added shape and form to the rhetoric. Although necessarily selective in his examination of the formidable mass of Congressional sources, the author has produced...