EPISODE · Nov 28, 2025 · 35 MIN
Cornerstone of Conflict: Secession, Civil War, and Emancipation
from APUSH for All · host Zach Garrison, Riley Keltner, and Mike Hill
Alexander Stephens bragged that the Confederacy’s “cornerstone” was slavery, not vague “states’ rights.” In this episode of APUSH for ALL, we follow the road from the Kansas–Nebraska Act and “Bleeding Kansas” through Dred Scott, Lincoln’s rise, and John Brown’s raid, into the election of 1860, Southern secession, and the firing on Fort Sumter. Using secession documents, speeches, and clashes in Congress, we peel back the myth of abstract “states’ rights” and ask: the right to do what? By the end, listeners will see how a war launched to “save the Union” was already rooted in defending slavery.
What this episode covers
Alexander Stephens bragged that the Confederacy’s “cornerstone” was slavery, not vague “states’ rights.” In this episode of APUSH for ALL, we follow the road from the Kansas–Nebraska Act and “Bleeding Kansas” through Dred Scott, Lincoln’s rise, and John Brown’s raid, into the election of 1860, Southern secession, and the firing on Fort Sumter. Using secession documents, speeches, and clashes in Congress, we peel back the myth of abstract “states’ rights” and ask: the right to do what? By the end, listeners will see how a war launched to “save the Union” was already rooted in defending slavery.
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Cornerstone of Conflict: Secession, Civil War, and Emancipation
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