American History Hit

Episode: What Caused the Civil War? | Politics

Host: Don Wildman
Guest: Brian Newman, Managing Director, John L. Now III Center for Civil War History, University of Virginia
Date: September 11, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the highly charged political landscape of the United States in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Don Wildman and guest historian Brian Newman explore how violent political culture, party dynamics, personal rivalries, and failed leadership laid the groundwork for secession and war. Famous incidents in Congress, the role of "frat house" politics, and the failure of presidents to address the slavery crisis are discussed in depth, illuminating the complex web of causes behind the nation's greatest conflict.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Symbolism and Reality of Washington, D.C. (02:31–07:32)

• The Aspirational Capital: Early Washington, D.C. was designed as a "city of magnificent intentions" (05:15), but remained unfinished, muddy, and chaotic, with livestock in the streets and rudimentary infrastructure.
• Symbol of Union: Despite its state, the Capitol carried immense symbolic value, especially for Northerners.
• Violence Embedded: The city, like the nation, was violent—riots (especially around elections), ethnic and racial strife, and mob attacks against abolitionists and minorities were common.

“All of that was going to take a really long time to build. And so for much of the antebellum era, the streets are dirt... Geese and cows and pigs wander the streets.”
— Brian Newman (05:15)

• Contradictions: The Capitol’s "higher purpose" as a center for reasoned debate clashed with the reality of continuous violence and disorder in the city and country.

2. Early Party Politics and Violence in Congress (10:00–14:37)

• Parties as a Buffer: The first party system (Democratic-Republicans) gave way to Whigs vs. Democrats (the second party system), masking deeper North-South tensions for a while.
• Rivalry Turned Deadly: Notable incidents, such as the 1838 duel between Jonathan Cilley (Democrat, Maine) and William Graves (Whig, Kentucky), underscored how partisan identity, rather than sectionalism, initially drove conflict.

“Dueling was illegal in Washington, D.C., so they traveled right outside the city into Maryland... on the third attempt, Jonathan Cilley is hit and bleeds out on a dueling ground and dies.”
— Brian Newman (12:16)

• Shift Toward Sectionalism: Partisanship paradoxically kept the country together, but as slavery dominated politics, parties fractured along regional lines.
• Violence as Escalation: Repeated violent incidents in Congress and on the streets reflected (and fueled) deep social and political instability.

3. Sectional Crisis and the Sumner-Brooks Caning (14:37–21:18)

• Bleeding Kansas and Congressional Mayhem: The expansion of slavery into new territories, especially after the Mexican-American War, made compromise impossible.
• The Caning of Charles Sumner (1856): Sumner’s anti-slavery speech provoked Congressman Preston Brooks to beat him unconscious with a cane on the Senate floor, a deliberate and widely publicized act.

“Brooks’s response was he was going to cane Sumner. And caning was what you would do to an inferior… Brooks goes into the Senate chamber... proceeds to beat him brutally over the head again and again.”
— Brian Newman (17:53)

• Aftermath: Brooks was lionized in the South (receiving new canes as gifts, including one with a "cracked skull" head from UVA students), while Northerners saw the attack as symbolic of Southern violence.
• Tipping Point: The caning is recognized as a turning point, signaling that political differences could no longer be resolved peaceably.

4. Congressional Culture: "Frat House" Politics and Sectional Cliques (24:54–30:31)

• Close Quarters, Rising Tensions: Representatives lived in “messes” (boarding houses), socializing—often heavily drinking—in close proximity, even across party and sectional lines.
• Friendships Delayed Showdowns: Personal bonds sometimes softened or delayed political confrontation, but also increased emotional stakes and, at times, sharpened conflicts.

“So the amount of alcohol people drank back then is truly staggering… In many cases congressmen were drunk, and these debates that stretched on into the evenings would get rowdier and rowdier.”
— Brian Newman (26:12)

• The F Street Mess: A powerful, all-Southern boarding house cohort shaped the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pressuring Stephen Douglas to explicitly repeal the Missouri Compromise and allow slavery in western territories.
• Bleeding Kansas: The outcome of such legislative maneuvering was all-out violence in Kansas, serving as a precursor to civil war.

5. Presidential Failures: Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan (33:09–37:33)

• Motivation to Preserve the Union: Each president sought to "remove slavery from politics" in hopes of saving the union, misunderstanding the issue’s moral urgency.
• Complicity and Weakness: Their compromises and inaction (especially Buchanan’s) failed to contain the crisis and in some cases encouraged secession.

“Buchanan... influences the Dred Scott decision… He also totally bungles the Kansas issue... when the Southern states start to secede… [he] does very little.”
— Brian Newman (35:18)

• Doe Faces: Pierce exemplifies the “Northern men with Southern principles,” prioritizing union over justice and making key concessions (enforcing the Kansas-Nebraska Act as a "test of party loyalty").

6. Attempts at Compromise and Inevitable War (37:33–40:16)

• Final Efforts: As secession loomed, desperate attempts (e.g., "the original 13th Amendment") sought to reassure the South by making the federal government powerless to abolish slavery in slave states.
• Denial and Defensiveness: Former presidents, especially Buchanan, never accepted blame for failure, insisting they had acted rightly.
• Inexorable Reckoning: A true solution would have required facing slavery as a profound moral evil—something the system and its leaders were unable or unwilling to do.

“From the very beginning of this country, slavery was the real issue dividing the states… Personally, I think that some kind of reckoning over slavery was probably inevitable.”
— Brian Newman (39:08)

7. Modern Parallels and Final Takeaways (40:57–42:16)

• Sectionalism vs. Today’s Divides: The Civil War was possible because the main issue (slavery) was both a moral crisis and clearly sectional, unlike today’s party-based, non-geographical divides.
• Lessons for Today: While contemporary paralysis and gridlock are dangerous, the episode underscores that the Civil War was triggered by a “line in the sand”—an issue too urgent and abhorrent to compromise.

“When we were a much younger nation, it took that issue of slavery to bring on that Civil War, something so undeniably immoral and important… There was no way out of that dilemma.”
— Don Wildman (40:58)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the nature of political violence:
  “There were about 1200 riots or acts of group violence all over the country… directed at abolitionists, African Americans, Catholics, Mormons, immigrants. So it’s a really violent country.”
  — Brian Newman (08:04)

• On the Sumner caning’s symbolism:
  “For Northerners, this was symbolic of them being censored… they can no longer speak their minds on the halls of Congress because of Southern violence.”
  — Brian Newman (19:55)

• On the failure of presidential leadership:
  “Buchanan… says that secession is illegal, but he also says that he has no power to stop it.… doing nothing has to make him one of the very worst presidents we’ve ever had.”
  — Brian Newman (35:18)

• On modern implications:
  “It’s hard for me to imagine a civil war playing out anywhere close to… like it did then, because you don’t have those clear lines. You know, a state like Texas has tons of Democrats. A state like California has tons of Republicans.”
  — Brian Newman (41:34)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Washington, D.C. in the Antebellum Era — 02:31–07:32
• Rise and Role of Political Parties / Partisan Violence — 10:00–14:37
• Sectional Crisis & Sumner-Brooks Caning — 14:37–21:18
• Congressional Life & F Street Mess — 24:54–30:31
• Presidential Failures — 33:09–37:33
• Compromise, Accountability, and Inevitability of War — 37:33–40:16
• Civil War vs. Modern American Divisions — 40:57–42:16

Conclusion

This episode vividly illustrates how the politics of the antebellum United States—rife with violence, personal animosity, sectional cliques, and moral myopia at the highest levels—set the stage for the Civil War. Through gripping stories and sharp analysis, Don Wildman and Brian Newman demonstrate that the conflict was neither sudden nor inexplicable but the result of systemic failure to confront the nation's original sin: slavery. The episode ends on a sober note, linking past divisions with current debates and reminding listeners of the unique convergence of factors that made civil war both possible and, perhaps, inevitable in the 1860s.