History Talks Lecture Series: David Goldfield

Description

The American Civil War was America’s greatest political failure. A system of government built upon the consent of the governed required compromise. Once evangelical religion infested politics, especially in the North, and eventually in the Republican Party, compromise became much less likely, particularly on the issue of slavery. The war that followed killed 720,000 men. Yet, most historians argue that the results – the salvation of the Union and the liberation of four million slaves – were worth the sacrifice. But were they? And, were those results fulfilled? Could they have been achieved more fully without a bloody war?

David Goldfield is the Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Goldfield is also the Editor of the Journal of Urban History, serves as Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, and as an Academic Specialist for the U.S. State Department. He is immediate Past President of the Southern Historical Association.

Join us for as David Goldfield discusses his book “America Aflame: God and the Civil War”