In this Book

summary

Despite the immense body of literature about the American Civil War and its causes, the nation’s western involvement in the approaching conflict often gets short shrift. Slavery was the catalyst for fiery rhetoric on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line and fiery conflicts on the western edges of the nation. Driven by questions regarding the place of slavery in westward expansion and by the increasing influence of evangelical Protestant faiths that viewed the institution as inherently sinful, political debates about slavery took on a radicalized, uncompromising fervor in states and territories west of the Mississippi River.

Busy in the Cause explores the role of the Midwest in shaping national politics concerning slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. In 1856 Iowa aided parties of abolitionists desperate to reach Kansas Territory to vote against the expansion of slavery, and evangelical Iowans assisted runaway slaves through Underground Railroad routes in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Lowell J. Soike’s detailed and entertaining narrative illuminates Iowa’s role in the stirring western events that formed the prelude to the Civil War.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page, Copyright Page
  2. pp. i-vi
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. List of Illustrations
  2. pp. ix-x
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Preface
  2. pp. xi-xiv
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. xv-xviii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. Uncertainty Rising
  2. pp. 1-9
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. The Morning Star
  2. pp. 10-25
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. Prairie, Dust, and Wind
  2. pp. 26-44
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4. “Do Come and Help Us. Come On through Iowa”
  2. pp. 45-69
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. Ho! For Kansas
  2. pp. 70-90
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. Scramble to Freedom
  2. pp. 91-104
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Raising the Stakes
  2. pp. 105-124
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. Heaven Sent
  2. pp. 125-175
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. North and Back: Captors and Liberators
  2. pp. 176-208
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Epilogue
  2. pp. 209-216
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix
  2. pp. 217-218
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 219-258
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Selected Bibliography
  2. pp. 259-270
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 271-288
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.