Antebellum America, 1787-1861

<p> A companion to <I>Abraham Lincoln and His Times</I>, this volume is a documentary sourcebook that provides a roadmap to the antebellum era. The primary documents assembled herein describe how slavery became intertwined with the antebellum arguments over the nature of the federal constitution, whether it created a national government or a loose confederation of states. The emphatic opinions on both sides of this debate are highlighted in the documents compiled in this book.