On this week's episode of History Reconsidered, Sumantra Maitra and Jarrett Stepman discuss the causes of the American Civil War.
In modern America, it seems the Civil War is being relitigated now more than ever, with presidential candidates being asked: "What caused the Civil War?" The answer for many is to simply say "slavery." However, as Maitra and Stepman explain, looking at the war through the lens of slavery versus anti-slavery or racism versus antiracism fails to capture the complex nature of a drawn-out conflict that nearly ended the American republic.
Maitra and Stepman talk about the prolonged debates over slavery, the nature of the Constitution, and the attitudes of Americans on the eve of war.
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