SXU Professor Authors 'Book Of The Year' On Antebellum Politics

CHICAGO, IL — A Saint Xavier University professor who many history students remember as one of their most thorough instructors authored his first book last fall and already been lauded for it. Graham Peck's "Making an Antislavery Nation: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Battle over Freedom" received the 2018 Russell P. Strange Memorial Book of the Year Award from the Illinois State Historical Society and was a finalist for the 2018 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

The book takes a deep dive into exactly what the title suggests: antebellum slavery in the United States and Illinois and the differences in approach between historical political rivals Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.

Peck, a California native and current resident of Oak Lawn who has been part of the history department at SXU for 16 years, gave a chapter-by-chapter overview of the book in a radio spot with Pat Williams of WDBO 96.5 Orlando that can be heard here.

The book, which was published by the University of Illinois Press last fall, received immediate praise. It is "an elegant and important reinterpretation of the political battles between slavery and freedom from the nation's founding to the secession crisis," according to John Stauffer of Harvard University. Princeton historian Matthew Karp wrote that it "changes the way we understand...the origins of the Civil War."

Looking at antebellum politics and the slavery issue from a national standpoint, the book focuses on Illinois' approach to the issue.

"It shows that slavery was critical to the origin of the Civil War, how slavery was forcing debates in the economic and political world and how that led to an antislavery party," Peck said. "Slavery was a problem in economic and social life that needed to be addressed because it was not going away."

The pre-Civil War conundrum of how slavery clashed with the basic American idea of freedom is prevalent in the book. Most anti-slavery Northerners saw slavery as an infringement on the slaves' rights to be free, while pro-slavery advocates said it was actually their freedom to have slaves that was being threatened by the antislavery movement.

Peck's book is as thorough as students remember his classes. In fact, he hopes this work could be used by antebellum history professors throughout the nation.

"The book provides valuable insight into the nation's conflict over slavery, providing important context for the debates we are currently having over Confederate monuments now," he said.

According to Peck's website, the book is one of the few ever written "to examine the problem of slavery in American society from the constitutional convention to Lincoln's election."

Complimented by tables, graphs and imagery, it is an accessible read for those who aren't die-hard history fanatics either. Read an excerpt here.

To purchase Peck's book on Amazon, go here.

Photo: SXU History Professor Graham Peck is surrounded by copies of his award-winning book / Photo by Tim Moran, Patch