Table of Contents
Introduction: A Disastrous Decade Michael F. Holt 1
Politics, Patronage, and Public Policy: The Compromise of 1850 Paul Finkelman 18
The Appeasement of 1850 Matthew Glassman 36
Beyond the Balance Rule: Congress, Statehood, and Slavery, 1850-1859 Amy S. Greenberg 80
Manifest Destiny's Hangover: Congress Confronts Territorial Expansion and Martial Masculinity in the 1850s Spencer R. Crew 97
"When the Victims of Oppression Stand Up Manfully for Themselves": The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the Role of African Americans in Obstructing Its Enforcement Martin J. Hershock 120
"Agitation Is as Necessary as Tranquility Is Dangerous": Kinsley S. Bingham Becomes a Republican Jenny Wahl 143
Dred, Panic, War: How a Slave Case Triggered Financial Crisis and Civil Disunion Brooks D. Simpson 159
"Hit Him Again": The Caning of Charles Sumner 202
Contributors 221
Index 223