Leading up to the Civil War, heated debates between pro-slavery factions and abolitionists sometimes stirred violent vigilantism. Taming the discourse became a linchpin for saving the nation. H. W. Brands, Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about a man who called for change via murder and another who looked to Washington for solutions. His new book is “The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom.”
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