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At the Edge of the Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise that Saved the Union |  | Author: Robert V. Remini
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 38422
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1St Edition
Pages: 200
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0465012884
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.5
EAN: 9780465012886
ASIN: 0465012884
Publication Date: May 11, 2010
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Product Description
In 1850, America hovered on the brink of disunion. Tensions between slave-holders and abolitionists mounted, as the debate over slavery grew rancorous. An influx of new territory prompted Northern politicians to demand that new states remain free; in response, Southerners baldly threatened to secede from the Union. Only Henry Clay could keep the nation together. At the Edge of the Precipice is historian Robert V. Remini’s fascinating recounting of the Compromise of 1850, a titanic act of political will that only a skillful statesman like Clay could broker. Although the Compromise would collapse ten years later, plunging the nation into civil war, Clay’s victory in 1850 ultimately saved the Union by giving the North an extra decade to industrialize and prepare. A masterful narrative by an eminent historian, At the Edge of the Precipice also offers a timely reminder of the importance of bipartisanship in a bellicose age.
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 Henry Clay and the Art of Compromise May 11, 2010
Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Henry Clay (1777 -- 1852) had his finest hour when he brokered the Compromise of 1850 late in his life. The Compromise resolved seemingly irreconciliable differences between North and South resulting from the Mexican War. The issues involved the expansion or the curtailment of slavery. By fashioning a delicate series of measures, the sections were able to resolve their differences for a time. When Civil War came ten years later, the North was much further along in industrialization and in political will than had been the case in 1850. The North also had bought time to find a new leader in the person of Abraham Lincoln. Thus, the Compromise of 1850 played an essential role in ultimately keeping the United States together.
Robert Remini's short, elegant new book "At the Edge of the Precipice" tells the story of the Compromise of 1850 and of Clay's role in it. Remini examines the factors leading to the near break-up of the Union in 1850 that showed why compromise was both difficult and essential. He offers a detailed look at the legislative process and the play of various political interests in enacting the Compromise. Clay's strengths and contributions to the Compromise are emphasized as are his failings. At the end, it fell to Stephen Douglas to bring the process to a conclusion.
Remini's book is of avowedly more than historical interest. He tries to teach a lesson about what compromise is and why it is important. To be successful, for Remini, a compromise must give each party something of value so that each may claim success regarding something of essential importance. Conversely, each party must be prepared to negotiate and not press certain matters that are of less importance. Polarization, distrust, ill-will and sometimes violence can be the results of a failure to compromise. In his Preface, Remini writes:
"This point is especially important today when the nation faces myriad problems, both foreign and domestic, that defy easy solutions, and that will, in all likelihood, require both major political parties to agree to compromise their differences. With severe economic problems that threaten to pitch the nation into a deep recession; with other domestic issues, such as health care, energy, immigration, and social concerns such as abortion and gay marriage; with wars in the Middle East that verge on escalation throughout the region; and with terrorism rampant around the globe, compromise on the part of the nation's political leaders, and the leaders of other countries, becomes all the more necessary."
We learn more about compromise as the narrative unfolds. Henry Clay had ran unsucessfully for president three times and had sought his party's nomination on two other occasions. Ill, elderly and discouraged, he reluctantly accepted a call to return to the Senate in 1849 after being denied the Whig presidential nomination in 1848. With no further presidential opportunities open to him, Clay acted with a large degree of disinterestedness. As a patriot and an American, his goal was to hold the Union together.
Clay also saw that many issues divided the country and that a successful compromise package would need to deal with seemingly disparate issues. Thus, Clay fashioned a series of proposals involving 1. the admission of California to the Union; 2. the organization of the Territory of New Mexico 3. the boundaries of Texas 4. Federal assumption of the debts of the former Republic of Texas 5. the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia; 6. buying and selling of slaves in the District of Columbia and 7. a fugitive slave law to allow southerners to recover runaway slaves. The proposed compromises gave something to each party, and Clay fought for them with force and eloquence. After much debate including missteps along the way Clay's proposals became the basis of the Compromise of 1850.
Remini offers lengthy accounts of the eloquence of the "Great Triumvirate" of the Senate -- Clay, Webster, and Calhoun -- as they addressed the proposed Compromise in their near final hours. He also shows how rising politicians such as Douglas and William Seward played a role in the Compromise. Douglas showed great political skill in securing the enactment of the components of the compromise as separate items of legislation after Clay, against his better judgment, had put all the components in a single package which could not garner sufficient legislative support. Seward gave a speech in the Senate which he invoked God and religion against the Compromise and its concessions to slaveholders. Remini's account suggests that such appeals are unlikely to be useful or successful.
As a prelude to his treatment of the Compromise of 1850, Remini discusses compromise in the creation of the Union beginning with the Constitution. But he focuses on Clay's lifelong role as the "Great Compromisor" in which ideological extremes are put aside to try to achieve consensus. Clay had taken this role many times his life, especially in securing passage of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and in helping to defuse the secession crisis with South Carolina and Nullification in 1832 -- 1833.
Remini is the historian of the U.S. House of Representatives and the author of many books on American history which focus on the pre-Civil War Era. This book teaches a great deal about an important event in United States history and about a great, if flawed, statesman, Henry Clay. Equally important, the book is also a meditation upon the importance and the nature of political compromise.
Robin Friedman
Wonderful Succinct Look at A Key Moment in American History! June 29, 2010
Lonnie W. Neubauer
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful, concise analysis of the politics and issues behind the Compromise of 1850. I have always enjoyed Remini's work, and loved his earlier door-stopper of a biography on Henry Clay (written back in the 1990s). Think of this volume as a sort of "filet mignon" culled from that earlier work - composed of just the juicy morsels regarding the 1850 Compromise, removed from that larger biography. Some might be taken aback at the sliminess of the volume - but just realize, again, that this is not supposed to be an exhaustive look at all the roll calls, all the political machinations, behind the debates and passage of the Compromise, but a quick, yet incisive, overall "tree-top" look at it. For a "grounds-up" view, go to other works (like my all time favorite book on the Anti-bellum/pre-Civil War era, The Impending Crisis, by David Potter). But do buy/read this book. It deserves to be in any Civil War junkie's library - and I think would be a FANTASTIC introduction for anyone who is interested in the politics of that era. I bought it - and am glad I did, for I will re-read it many times again!!
Brilliant case study of a vital legislative compromise June 7, 2010
John Wetterholt (Crystal Lake, IL USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an exhaustively researched and meticulously written case study of the Compromise of 1850. Though seemingly brief at just 159 pages of text, this masterful study places the idea of political compromise in its historical context and then examines the Senate debates in 1849 and 1850 that sought to resolve the question of slavery as it applied to lands gained during the Mexican War. There is tension, drama, and tragedy in this story of sectional and political intrigue that forestalled civil war for a decade, allowing the Union to further develop its capacity to support such a war, and find the leader in Abraham Lincoln who could see it through. A spellbinding historical narrative.
Mr Remini makes pre-civil war years interesting July 14, 2010
Traditio (Little Rock, AR USA)
There are many names that you hear throughout pre-Civil War history, like Clay and Calhoun and Buchanan, but Prof. Remini tells a clear story and how the Civil War was postponed due to the efforts of Henry Clay and the other persons who were trying to hold the Union together. I got the book on tape and really loved it. It's a great read.
 Remini in a Rush July 25, 2010
R. Shuman (Cape Elizabeth, Maine)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not up to the standards one expects of Remini. It seemed that he was working against a publishing deadline and he rushed through some of the admittedly complex situations of the 15 years before the Civil War and what effect that had on the ultimate outcome.
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