Apostle of Disunion written by Chalres B. Dew is one of the most popular modern books which talks about the American civil and the succession of southern states’ with accuracy and evidences from the speeches by the commissioners of the states (pg 21). Dew is an American historian best known for history of Southern states and Civil war. Of the three books he has written and published, one of them have been awarded New York Times Notable Book of the Year and the other two are also well known and widely read.
In the book Apostle of Disunion, the writer talks about the southern sates and the other slave owning states during the period of 1860 to 1861 and depicts racism and slavery as the main cause behind national crisis civil war and succession instead of contrary belief that it was ignited by state rights. Dew talks about the speeches of commissioners in different conventions where they openly talked about racism and slavery. He holds them equally responsible for the rise of civil war whereas other historian seem to have ignored them and their word. In this book review I will talk about the main objective of the author, the targeted audience and its effectiveness in achieving this objective.
The main objective of Dew in the book is to show racial slavery as the main cause of civil war and not issue of state right. According to Dew the state right issue was only a cover up for the racial slavery that the southern state heavily depended on. They were afraid of being in union with the northern state because they believed that if they continued their union then that would lead them to war as the northern states believed in equality of races and abolishment of slave institution which was the foundation of the souths political, economic and social fabrics (p 63).
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Drew though his analysis of the primary sources like speeches, letters and secondary sources like biography shows the southern state because of the fear of the free black in the north and the republican who believed in racial equality thought separation and succession as the only way to preserve “the heaven- ordained superiority of the white over the black race’(p 53) . With his arguments and analysis using evidences and rhetorical appeals Dew dismiss the claims that civil wall resulted due to violation of state freedom of the south through aggression and proves his claims that it was protection of racial slavery in the south which led them to succession and eventually civil war.
Dew talks about the Mississippi’s “Declaration of Immediate Causes” which freely said ”Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery. ….There was no choice cleft us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or dissolution of the union, whose principles had been subverted to work our ruin. This proves that the preservation of slave institution was the main reason behind succession. Drew also talks about Judge Harris who addressed the Georgia General Assembly where he said that” This new union with Lincoln Black Republicans and free negroes, without slavery ,or; slavery under our old constitutional bond of union, without Lincoln Black Republicans, or free negroes either ,to molest us” (p.29)which validates Dews’ claim that the southern state felt threatened by the appointment of Republican Lincoln as the president who was determined to end racial slavery.
Harris also said,” If white Southerners wanted to avoid submission to negro equality then session is inevitable.”(p 29) to the Georgia legislators which shows that the racial slavery was indeed the cause of civil war. Through this kind of evidences from speeches Dew has been successful in his objective to prove that the succession was motivated by racial slavery and not the issue of state right. Although the cause of civil war is still debated even today Dew provide with hard evidences from speeches of commissioners and governors to prove his claim and achieve his objective.
The book is suitable for all kinds of people who are interested in knowing about the much controversial cause behind the civil war. The historians and young students like us who are beginning to learn about American history. Dew wants to make a claim that racial slavery was the cause behind the succession and clear the doubt and controversies among historian about what led to civil war through this book. So, historians seem to be the targeted audience. Those who believe that racial slavery led to civil war will be made more clear and convinced about it while on the other hand those who believe that issue of state right caused it will be compelled to think about their arguments because the information have been so well presented and argued. Similarly, young scholers will find this book very helpful because of the way the things have been organized and written.
No prior information about American history is needed to understand this book because the content is so well organized with simple language and minimal use of jargons. The inclusion of appendix, index and notes make this book a complete package. You don’t have to look other sources for understanding what the author is talking about. The conclusion section summarizes the book and presents the authors feelings. The appendix section has the notes Dew used as sources for his book. Thus , the book is appropriate for all kind of history enthusiasts and the fact that we are reading about it in history class proves that it is equally useful for students.
In conclusion, the book is successful in achieving its goal and objective of proving racial slavery as the the root of civil war. The well organized information in the book and the fact that the author himself a historian and southerner makes the book much more convincing and makes the author credible. Also, the evidence that are presented proves that the author has done a lot of research and study and is not just making things up. Although, the book is short consisting of only 151 pages but it is informative and focuses on quality instead of quantity. But there are few fallacies in the book that cannot be ignored like strawman and bifurcation.
Dew makes it seem like racial slavery was the only cause behind civil war which all of the historian may not agree upon. There were certainly more cause behind and he seems to be simply downplay them by cherry picking quotes from who he wants and doesn’t go into detail about them. In my opinion if he had talked in detail about the documents, about what the north was thinking besides ending slavery and why south turned so defensive then it would have made the book more balanced. But overall it’s a good book and is successful in achieving its goal .
