In the spring of 1861, Virginians confronted destiny—their own and their nation’s. Pivotal decisions awaited about secession, the consequences of which would unfold for a hundred years and more. But f
Freehling and Simpson (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and U. of Western Ontario, Canada) collect selected speeches and debates from the Virginia convention, when disunionists in the state deba
The critical northern antebellum debate matched the rhetorical skills of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in an historic argument over the future of slavery in a westward-expanding America. Two
