Promotional Information

A complex portrayal of southern cotton planters that will revise the way many scholars interpret the political economy of slavery. -- John Majewski, University of California, Santa Barbara In this bold new interpretation of the contours of southern political economy between the Constitution and the Civil War, Brian Schoen skillfully embeds U.S. history in its proper international context. The Fragile Fabric of Union marks the impressive debut of an exceptional young historian. -- Peter A. Coclanis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill This fascinating and deeply researched book challenges enduring myths about the Cotton South and the roots of the Civil War. From the vantage point of global political economy, it sheds new light on how American slaveholders aggressively pursued commercial power. -- Charles Postel, Bancroft prize-winning author of The Populist Vision

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue, 178
1. The Threads of a Global Loom: Cotton, Slavery, and Union in an Interdependent Atlantic, 1789–1820
Cotton, Empire, and Nation
The Formation of a Transatlantic Cotton Interest
Cotton's "Revolution" and Its Limits
2. Calculating the Cost of Union: Nationalism and Sectionalism in a Republican Era, 1796–1818
The Cotton South and a Republican Coalition of "Equals"
"The Honor of Bearing It Best": Cotton, Commercial Warfare, and War
Peace Abroad, Dissension at Home: Republicans Active and Passive
3. Protecting Slavery and Free Trade: The Political Economy of Cotton, 1818– 1833
Panic and Protection
Cotton and a Harmonious Domestic and International Division of Labor
"Unequal" Protection under the Law and Cotton's Minority Status
4. Building Bridges to the West and the World: Empowerment and Anxiety in the Second Party System, 1834–1848
Publishing the "Banns" of Marriage: The Search for Lower South Commercial Advancement
American Proslavery Thought in the Age of British Abolition
The Second Party System in the Cotton South
5. An Unnatural Union: King Cotton and Lower South Secession, 1849– 1860
Economic Advancement in an Age of Democratic Ascendance
Converting Friends to Enemies and Enemies to Friends: The Search for Natural Allies
Realists Decide: Election and Secession
Epilogue, 1861
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index

About the Author

Brian Schoen is an associate professor of history at Ohio University.

Reviews

Schoen has written an immensely important history of southern political economy, one that is destined to be prominent in future studies of the Old South. -- James L. Huston Civil War Book Review Schoen's chronological approach in five chapter develops his arguments and does a masterful job of keeping the focus on cotton, its politics, its exploitation of slaves, and ultimately the self-delusions of the cotton states vis-a-vis the world... An excellent book on all counts. Highly recommended. Choice A sophisticated, nuanced analysis of elite political-economic rhetoric in the antebellum South. -- Lawrence A. Peskin North Carolina Historical Review In sure-footed fashion, Brian Schoen guides the reader through overlooked issues in the oft-told account of southern secession. -- Frank J. Byrne Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Students of the causes of the Civil War should read The Fragile Fabric of Union. It is well written and extensively documented... The author brings the issues to life by illustrating how economic self interested colored the views of the South to the point that it was willing to sunder the Union and go to war. -- Stephen Donnelly Historical Journal of Massachusetts I found myself reading this book in light of current events. Schoen does a good job pointing out that legislative victors may rue their triumph, while losers may inadvertently reap benefits from loathed legislation... The book is clearly written. -- David G. Surdam Journal of Economic History Impressive... Adds an intriguing new dimension to ongoing debates about the nature of southern economic development, what motivated southern states to secede, why they seceded when they did, and ultimately what caused the Civil War. -- Beth English American Historical Review In this provocative book, he forces historians who have not done so already to discount 'Lost Cause' lore and pay greater attention to southerners who thought they could use their monopoly in raw cotton as leverage to advance the interests of their region in the larger world. -- Glenn C. Altschuler Journal of Interdisciplinary History An important contribution to the reinterpretation of plantation slavery and the origins of the U.S. Civil War... A lucidly written, richly researched, and convincing analysis of the global forces that shaped the politics of the southern slaveholders. -- Charles Post Journal of American History There is much to admire in Brian Schoen's ambitious new book... A remarkable scholarly debut that represents one of the most important studies of 'why the South fought' to be released in over a generation. -- Scott P. Marler Register of the Kentucky Historical Society Schoen's readable prose deserves a wide audience. His explanations of tariffs and other economic issues are clear, and he has admirable command of a wide range of political and economic subjects (both domestically and in foreign relations). This book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any scholar of the antebellum era. -- Aaron W. Marrs Technology and Culture Schoen extends the transatlantic dimensions of this era; just as the politics of slavery were shaped by developments in the Caribbean and Europe, so too did the political economy of cotton stretch throughout the Atlantic world. This book should be read by all those interested in broadening their understanding of both the Atlantic world of the nineteenth century and the coming of the American Civil War. -- Ed Rugemer H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews Schoen challenges previous studies and underscores the impact of external global economics as a primary cause of the Civil War. This contention is likely to stir controversy and healthy debate. -- Michael Russert Civil War News Schoen's Fragile Fabric commendably sheds renewed light on the conflict's origins at the local, sectional, and transatlantic level. -- Marc-William Palen Southern Historian Schoen effectively links ideology, institutions, and econometrics... [and] skillfully places the nineteenth-century South and U.S. on the global stage. -- Todd W. Wahlstrom Journal of Social History Specialists will welcome Schoen's deeply researched, well-crafter, and sophisticated book. -- John David Smith The Historian The insights presented here are novel and require the engagement of all scholars of Old South politics and economic processes... Provocative, well-written. -- Andrew Prymak South Carolina Historical Magazine Anyone interested in the growing importance of the cotton industry to the South during the ante-bellum period, and to American and global politics, will find this work of use. -- Lisa Gillis IA: The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology In The Fragile Fabric of Union, Brian Schoen offers historians a compelling, highly readable, and historiographically significant account of the exact circumstances that led to Southern secession in the late 1860 and early 1861... The book deserves to be widely read, particularly in graduate seminars of the Early American Republic, the American Civil War, and American Economic History. -- Andrew J.B. Fagal Enterprise and Society