Material progress from 1850 to 1860 -- Causes of American prosperity -- Railway travel in 1853 -- The Tariff Act of 1846 -- Observations of foreign travellers -- Lack of health in the United States -- Manners and customs -- American humor -- Agitation for secession in South Carolina -- The grievances of the South -- Seward and Lincoln -- The Charleston forts -- Sentiment in the border slaves states -- The Star of the West expedition -- Repeal of personal liberty laws -- Jefferson Davis's speech -- Slavery as the sole cause of war -- Virginia's effort to save the Union -- Outbreak of the Civil War -- Meeting of the Confederate Congress -- The battle of Bull Run -- Slaves "contraband of war" -- Fremont's incompetence -- English sentiment on the Civil War -- Financial system of the Confederacy -- Internal affairs of the Confederacy -- Unsystematic administration of the War department -- Battle of Shiloh -- Capture of New Orleans -- Action of the President and Congress in reference to slavery.
