Causing the Civil War

Auer, Jeffrey, ed. Anti-Slavery and Disunion, 1858-1861: Studies in the Rhetoric of Compromise and Conflict, 1963. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. Auer's work is a collection of essays by historians on the events leading up to the Civil War.

Basler, Roy, ed. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1953. This eight-volume set is a solid compendium of most of President Lincoln's letters and his important speeches from 1830 until his death. It contains many of his letters to leading political figures of the day, his speeches on his stand on slavery, and correspondence involving his political career.

Roswenc, Edwin, ed. The Causes of the American Civil War. Boston: Heath, 1961. Written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Civil War, Roswenc's collection of essays remains a good study on the many and different reasons that brought about the conflict.

Rowland, Dunbar, ed. Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches. Jackson, MS: Printed for the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History, 1923. This substantial, 10-volume set covers Davis's career from his days in the army to the his post-war life. It includes his lengthy and emotional speeches on slavery and disunion, letters to his wife, and notes to political colleagues. It offers numerous reasons for the Civil War from his point of view.