The Impending Crisis of the South

Infobox book
title=The Impending Crisis of the South
author=Hinton Rowan Helper
publisher=A.B. Burdick
pub_date=1857

"The Impending Crisis of the South" is a book written by Hinton Rowan Helper, which he self-published in 1857. It was a strong attack on slavery as inefficient and a barrier to the economic advancement of whites. The book was widely distributed by Horace Greeley and other antislavery leaders, much to the vehement anger of the white Southern leaders.

The book condemns the institution of slavery, but Helper did not take what he considered to be an ineffectually sentimental or moralistic abolitionist approach (as seen in "Uncle Tom's Cabin"). Instead, Helper crafted an essentially empirical analysis that appealed to the self-interest of whites, rather than a sense of altruism towards blacks. Helper claimed that slavery actually ended up hurting the Southern economy overall (by preventing economic development and industrialization), and was the main reason why the South had progressed so much less than the North (according to the results of the 1850 census and other verifiable factual measures) since the late 18th century. Helper spoke on behalf of the Southern whites who were poor or of moderate means — the Plain Folk of the Old South — who he claimed were oppressed by a small (but politically-dominant) aristocracy of wealthy slave-owners.

Helper's tone was aggressive: "Freesoilers and abolitionists are the only true friends of the South; slaveholders and slave-breeders are downright enemies of their own section. Anti-slavery men are working for the Union and for the good of the whole world; proslavery men are working for the disunion of the States, and for the good of nothing except themselves." (p. 363)

Political impact

The "Compendium" version appeared in July 1859; it was an abridgement that kept the statistics but watered down some of the confrontational rhetoric. This version met with fierce opposition in the South and many places banned it. It widened the gulf between North and South especially through the protracted December 1859 - January 1860 political struggle about electing John Sherman to the speakership of the House. Historians agree it helped sharpen sectional political differences in the period immediately preceding the American Civil War.

References

* Brown, David. "Attacking Slavery from Within: The Making of the Impending Crisis of the South," "Journal of Southern History" (2004) vol 70, the standard historical survey
* Cardoso, J. J. "Hinton Rowan Helper as a Racist in the Abolitionist Camp" "The Journal of Negro History," Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct., 1970), pp. 323-330 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2716176 in JSTOR]
* Channing, Steven A. "Crisis of Fear: Secession in South Carolina" (1974) [http://books.google.com/books?id=X29egdUI4WUC&pg=PA311&lpg=PA311&dq=%22Reaction+to+The+Impending+Crisis,%22+%22&source=web&ots=r8INMWuztv&sig=68vLI6l99Nz3yURiO27DpSsrrEE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA104,M1 online pp 104-5]
* Fredrickson, George M. "Antislavery Racist: Hinton Rowan Helper," in Fredrickson, "The Arrogance of Race: Historical Perspectives on Slavery, Racism, and Social Inequality" (1988), pp 28-53 [http://books.google.com/books?id=PJySQbQPCwQC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=%22Antislavery+Racist:+Hinton+Rowan+Helper&source=web&ots=jO7OGS1bh_&sig=N-C1W1XOItDsdzN2XXMIIhl4POU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result online excerpt]
* Wilson, Edmund. "Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War" (1962), 364-79.

Primary sources

* [http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/helper/helper.html 1857 text of "The Impending Crisis"] at the University of North Carolina
* [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=gXgFAAAAQAAJ&dq=compendium+%22Hinton+Rowan+Helper%22&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=eCByDH_LIh&sig=gq8JhdpzxFkhrBbLOrf8N_bhQL4&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result "Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South" (1959 version online]