charles adams when in the course of human events: arguing the case for southern secession

by Rigoberto Stark Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago 7 min read

Was the cause of Southern secession economics or slavery?

Prominent scholar Charles Adams challenges this traditional wisdom. Using primary documents from both foreign and domestic observers, Adams makes a powerful and convincing case that the Southern states were legitimately exercising their political rights as expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

Is Charles Adams the world’s leading historian of taxes?

· WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS: ARGUING THE CASE FOR SOUTHERN SECESSION Charles Adams Rowman and Littlefield, 2000; xiv + 257 pgs. Charles Adams manifests in this excellent book a rare talent-he asks intelligent historical questions. Many today portray the Civil War as a struggle to end slavery. Given the manifest injustice of Negro …

How did the Confederate States of America secede?

What were the motives for the southern War of Independence?

When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession. When in the Course of Human Events. : Using primary documents from both foreign and domestic …

Mises Review 6, No. 3 (Fall 2000)

WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS: ARGUING THE CASE FOR SOUTHERN SECESSION Charles Adams Rowman and Littlefield, 2000; xiv + 257 pgs.

Cite This Article

Gordon, David. "Adams's Stunning Achievement." Review of When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession, by Charles Adams. The Mises Review 6, No. 3 (Fall 2000).

What did Charles Adams argue about the Civil War?

Using primary documents from both foreign and domestic observers, prominent scholar Charles Adams makes a powerful and convincing case that the Southern states were legitimately exercising their political rights as expressed in the Declaration of Independence when they seceded from the United States. Although conventional histories have taught generations of Americans that this was a war fought for lofty moral principles, Adams' eloquent history transcends simple Southern partisanship to show how the American Civil War was primarily a battle over competing commercial interests, opposing interpretations of constitutional rights , and what English novelist Charles Dickens described as a fiscal quarrel.

When in the course of human events, did the South secede from the Union of Independent States?

According to Charles Adams in his book When In the Course of Human Events, the South was well within their rights to secede from the union of independent states one century, two score and one decade ago. And he is not alone. At least not alone when it comes to 19th century thought.

What is the source of sectional conflict in the Antebellum?

Given his background as a tax lawyer, it's not altogether surprising that Adams sees taxation as the fundamental source of antebellum sectional conflict. His treatment of the subject is anything but technical, and these essays were clearly intended for the layman.

What is the best book about the war of Northern Aggression?

For Lincoln was opposed to nearly every principle that guided the establishment of our republic. In reality, there is a "second founding" that completely. This is the single best book on the politics surrounding the War of Northern Aggression. This is one of the ten books that every American should read.

How much did the South pay in tariffs?

Of that $107.5 million, the South paid approximately $90 million in duties, taxes and fees (over 83%) while the North only paid $17.5 million (17%) per annum.

Is Charles Adams a fan of war?

It becomes obvious rather quickly that Charles Adams is not a fan of war – any war. That is to be admired. But, seriously, who is? Yet it’s refreshing to hear from a voice who seeks out the truth of things rather than simply swallowing the history as it was written by the victors of the struggle. Adams’ citing of opinion writing of the day, his inclusion of period newspaper articles and political cartoons and quotes from a multitude of key players and participants allows his audience the unique chance to slip inside the heads of those Americans who lived through that dark period and to understand their mindsets and motives as they witnessed the senseless destruction of the lives of some 630,000 of their young countrymen. I came away from this book with a new and interesting perspective on one of the most violent and devastating events our country has ever had the misfortune of suffering and I doubt I’ll ever view the events of that era in the same light again.

Who is Charles Adams?

For supposed historian is what Charles Adams is. He self-describes himself on the blurb of his book as a “the world’s leading historian of taxation.” I am not a slave to academic qualifications, but Adams appears to have none. It is hard to find information on him, but according to a 1993 newspaper article, he is “a former California lawyer who is a research historian at the University of Toronto,” and before that “taught history at the International College of the Cayman Islands.” The book prominently notes that it is the “Winner of the 2000 Paradigm Book Award.” I can find no reference to such an award except in connection with this book. The back cover has positive blurb quotes from four people from Emory, Auburn, USC and Florida Atlantic University. The first two are not from historians, but from a philosopher and a trustee who is not a teacher at all. The third is from an elderly historian who is a founder of the League of the South, a neo-confederate organization. The fourth, a short and anodyne quote, is from a historian about whom I can find little information. But none of this increases my trust in this book. I’m sure there’s a case to be made for some of Adams’s opinions, but he does himself and his positions no favors with this book.

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From Adams (Those Dirty Rotten Taxes, 1998), a selectively argued, sometimes absurd polemic against Abraham Lincoln and the Union. Abraham Lincoln assumed in the Second Inaugural Address that his ... Read full review

References to this book

All Honor to Jefferson?: The Virginia Slavery Debates and the Positive Good ...

When in the course of human events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession?

The great value of Charles Adam's book, When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession, is that it shows in careful historical detail that slavery did not cause this great tragedy. In short, the Southern states formed a new republic to avoid paying tariffs that benefited northern northern industry and paid for the construction and operations of federal government facilities and other "public works," most of which were located in Northern states.

Who is Mark Thornton?

Mark Thornton is a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and the book review editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He has authored seven books and is a frequent guest on national radio shows.

Details

Adams uses documents from foreign (primarily British) and domestic observers to state that the South was exercising the rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence against a fiscally-quarrelsome and commercial North, rather than maintaining lofty moral principles of slavery.

WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS

From Adams ( Those Dirty Rotten Taxes, 1998), a selectively argued, sometimes absurd polemic against Abraham Lincoln and the Union.

A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History ).

NIGHT

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.