Capitol in Crisis

In the tense and fateful months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the firing on Fort Sumter, the 36th United States Congress stood at the center of the greatest constitutional crisis in American history. This dramatic account takes readers inside Congress as the Union unraveled in real time. Here were bitter sectional confrontations, desperate compromise proposals, emotional farewell speeches, and constitutional arguments shaking the foundations of the republic.

American history Giants-including Jefferson Davis, John J. Crittenden, Stephen A. Douglas, William H. Seward, and Lincoln himself-clashed over questions determining whether the Constitution could survive the strain of secession. From the chaotic Speaker fight revealing a fractured nation, to the final compromise collapses, to the birth of the Confederacy and the transition from political crisis to war governance, this book tells the riveting story about Congress's final attempt to save the Union through legislation rather than bloodshed.

Rich with vivid narrative, dramatic personalities, and constitutional insight, the 36th Congress is more than a history of legislative proceedings. It tells about a government pushed to its breaking point-and of the men whose words, decisions, failures, and convictions shaped American history. For readers of Civil War history, constitutional scholarship, and political drama, it is the unforgettable story about the Congress that witnessed the end of one America and another's painful birth.