In most studies of nationalism, the United States is curiously
ignored or is examined only during its colonial and republican
periods. But it was the Civil War, argues Susan-Mary Grant, that
truly formed the American nation by unifying the states once and
for all, abolishing slavery, and setting the country on the path to
modernity. In light of this, says Grant, the antebellum period was
the crucial phase of American national construction. In "North Over
South," Grant offers an original and controversial interpretation
of a much discussed but poorly understood period of American
history. Despite the attention generally given to Southern
nationalism, Grant focuses on what Northerners thought about the
South and how their beliefs created a distinct outlook: a Northern
nationalism based on opposition to things Southern.
Grant identifies Northern views of the South between 1830 and
1856 and examines how they developed, how they changed, and how
they were used by the Republican Party in its first national
election campaign. She demonstrates that the Republicans employed
negative images of the South to transform Northern regionalism into
a self-styled "American nationalism"--at the same time transforming
the South into a region antithetical to the nation.
In support of this thesis, Grant examines attitudes toward the
South expressed by writers, travelers, and politicians. Focusing on
works of such prominent writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, William
Cullen Bryant, and Horace Mann, she shows that the North used the
South as a negative point of reference against which to define its
own-hence American-identity, effectively excluding the South from
full participation in the process of American national
construction.
This provocative study links the process of national
construction in America with recent studies of European nationalism
and fills a gap in the historiography of North-South relations. One
of the first scholars to relate new theories of national
construction to America, Grant shows that the United States has
more in common with the European experience than is often
acknowledged and offers a unique and illuminating perspective on
the process of American nation-building. Her book will be required
reading for anyone interested in antebellum America and the origins
of the Civil War.
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