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IMPENDING CRISIS OF THE SOUTH,

IMPENDING CRISIS OF THE SOUTH, by Hinton Rowan Helper, was one of the most sensational books ever published in the United States. Appearing in the spring of 1857 as the nation was sliding toward civil war, the book became the centerpiece of an intense debate on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Helper, an obscure yeoman farmer from North Carolina, claimed that slavery was an economic disaster for the South and an insurmountable barrier to the economic advancement of the region's slaveless farmers. There was nothing new about this argument. Political economists had long claimed that slavery inhibited economic development and undermined small farmers, craftsmen, and manufacturers. Much of The Impending Crisis was a tedious recitation of dull statistics designed to prove this familiar argument. But Helper also added a shockingly inflammatory threat: If the southern planters did not voluntarily dismantle the slave system, he warned, the small farmers would launch a sustained class war across the South. Helper even hinted at a slave rebellion, although he himself had racist proclivities and little or no sympathy for the plight of the slaves. Coming at such a sensitive moment in national politics, it was no wonder southern leaders denounced Helper's northern supporters with such vehemence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Helper, Hinton Rowan. The Impending Crisis of the South; How to Meet It. Edited with an introduction by George M. Fredrickson. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1968.

James Oakes

See also Slavery; and vol. 9: The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It.