Disunion! The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859

Elizabeth R. Varon examines the ongoing debates over disunion that preceded the Civil War, blending political history with intellectual, cultural, and gender perspectives.

The book traces disunion rhetoric from the early republic through abolitionism, slavery expansion debates, the crisis of 1850, and Bleeding Kansas, showing how Americans invoked disunion to advance partisan and sectional goals on slavery.

It reveals how these fears and arguments hardened positions leading to secession.