America's Civil War (review)

I78CIVIL WAR HISTORY Popular sovereignty became central to national political controversy in the political controversy that followed the conquests resulting from the Mexican War. It is here that Klunder's characterization of Cass's politics as moderate becomes most problematic. An ardent supporter of expansion in the northwest, Cass also wholeheartedly backed the territorial conquestresulting from the Mexican War. In 1 848, Cass eyed Cuba and even the Yucatan as potential outposts for American growth. When it came to Manifest Destiny, a central issue of his day, Cass was anything but the cautious moderate. His enthusiasm for territorial growth led Cass to back popular sovereignty as a way to quiet anxiety over slavery and promote geographical expansion. Here, Klunder effectively documents the problems Cass encountered in attempting to take a moderate position on slavery in the territories, especially as secretary of state in the Buchanan administration. In the most interesting portion of the biography , Klunderportrays Cass's anxiety overthe poUtical chaos broughtby popular sovereignty and slavery. Cass ultimately blamed the failures of the doctrine he had invented on Northerners such as Stephen Douglas and abandoned popular sovereignty to back John Breckenridge in the presidential election of i860. In short, the irreconcilable difficulties of popular sovereignty made Lewis Cass increasingly immoderate, or at least made the kind ofpro-Southern moderation he espoused increasingly irrelevant.Too sympathetic to his subject, Klunder overlooks the ways in which Manifest Destiny and the sectional crisis erased the Michigan politician's stance as a centrist. Nevertheless, Lewis Cass is important to understanding antebellum nationalism and its role in the sectional crisis, and Klunder's book ably covers both its subject and a half-century of American history. With this well-written and knowledgeable biography, we have a more complete understanding ofJacksonian democracy and the sectional crisis. Wally Hettle University of Northern Iowa America's Civil War. By Brooks D. Simpson. (Wheeling, 111.: Harlan Davidson, 1996. Pp. xiv, 239. $12.95.) Brooks Simpson's new book offers a briefsynthesis ofCivilWar history primarily designed for classroom use. Simpson places the conflict in a reasonably broad national and international context while making some connections among the military, political, diplomatic, and social developments of the period. The result is a sure-footed, concise narrative that also introduces students to some important scholarly controversies. Given the purpose ofthe volume, it is not surprising that such standard topics as secession, the Sumter crisis, and the lineup of forces at the beginning of the war are treated in a thoroughly conventional but useful fashion. Interspersed throughout the chapters is a carefully crafted account of the war's major campaigns and battles from a strategic perspective. Indeed, students looking for a BOOK REVIEWS179 condensed, clear, and evenhanded summary of a particular campaign would do well to consult this volume. Given Simpson's own research interests, it is not surprising that there is much attention given to Ulysses S. Grant and that Confederate strategy is sometimes given rather short shrift. Yet the general focus on Northern initiatives with some attention to the Confederate responses drives the narrative forward. Included are enough quotations, anecdotes, and details— albeit most ofthem familiar to readers of this journal—to keep the story moving. Books like this can become too predictable or too idiosyncratic, but Simpson generally avoids these extremes. He refuses, for instance, to exaggerate the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation and also avoids oversimplifying wartime diplomacy. He also nicely weaves questions of labor policy into a discussion of AfricanAmerican soldiers. In one ofthe most provocative sections ofthe book, Simpson downplays the Battle of Gettysburg as a turning point in the war and then proceeds to argue persuasively that 1864 was in many respects the most important year of the conflict. The chapter on the homefront includes a briefbut useful discussion ofthe role played by newspapers, illustrated weeklies, letters, and photographs in conveying news, opinion, and emotion. Simpson pays considerable attention to wartime Reconstruction and in several instances questions or qualifies various neorevisionist arguments on the growing "radicalism" of Lincoln's policies. To some degree his attention to the homefront and social history is grudging because he concludes that the North's superior political and military leadership ultimately decided...