Apostle of Union

Known today as “the other speaker at Gettysburg,” Edward Everett had adistinguished and illustrative career at every level of American politics fromthe 1820s through the Civil War. In this new biography, Matthew Masonargues that Everett’s extraordinarily well-documented career reveals a complexman whose shifting political opinions, especially on the topic of slavery,illuminate the nuances of Northern Unionism. In the case of Everett—whoonce pledged to march south to aid slaveholders in putting down slave insurrections—Mason explores just how complex the question of slavery was formost Northerners, who considered slavery within a larger context of competingpriorities that alternately furthered or hindered antislavery actions.

By charting Everett’s changing stance toward slavery over time, Masonsheds new light on antebellum conservative politics, the complexities ofslavery and its related issues for reform-minded Americans, and the waysin which secession turned into civil war. As Mason demonstrates, Everett’spolitical and cultural efforts to preserve the Union, and the response to hiswork from citizens and politicians, help us see the coming of the Civil Waras a three-sided, not just two-sided, contest.