Battle Cry of Freedom Book Review

Battle Cry of Freedom

            Battle Cry of Freedom is an 862 page book on the Civil War; its causes, its duration, and its aftermath. It was written by James M. McPherson, an Edwards Professor of American History at Princeton University. It is a historical summarization, and has been regarded by some as possibly the best book ever written on the subject. Other books, among dozens of his published works, are The Struggle for Equality, The Abolitionist Legacy, and Ordeal by Fire.

            The author writes from a strictly third-person point of view. He analyzes the leading causes of the Civil War, the issue of slavery, the Spanish-American War, and the formation and slavery-oriented debate of new states. All of the causes started decades before the actual war, yet each had its own separate effect on the North/South split.

            A common misbelief is that the Civil War started to end slavery. In a way, yes it was started over slavery, but that really is not the major fact. It really was much more than that, but slavery was a contributing factor. The Civil War was fought over states’ rights, as outlined in the Battle Cry of Freedom. The real issue was whether or not states were allowed to have slaves, not have slaves, have free slaves that escaped, and the legality of having agents arresting escaped slaves, which more often than not picked up the wrong escaped slave, or worse, a free person. Some states were pro-slavery by law, yet its citizens sought to protect and shuttle north escaped slaves.

            The Spanish-American War established United States dominance and also simultaneously gained new territory for the US. Out of this territory was carved California, New Mexico, and Utah. This was the critical point, the point at which slavery debate boiled over. Northerners rushed anti-slavery citizens to the new territories, while the south sought to counteract the efforts. The reason was that each side of the slavery argument could admit a pro/anti slavery state, and therefore gain the upper hand in politics of the time        . Massive movements of persons, called “border ruffians” in the constricted territories led to small conflicts, which led to regional conflicts.