New Books Network Aaron Sheehan-Dean, "Fighting with the Past: How Seventeenth-Century History Shaped the American Civil War" (UNC Press, 2025)
Oct 12, 2025
Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean, a historian specializing in 19th-century American history, explores how narratives from the English Civil Wars influenced the American Civil War. He explains how both Northerners and Southerners drew on English examples to justify their actions and identities. Fascinating comparisons arise as he discusses Southern Royalist analogies and how abolitionists embraced Cromwell's radicalism. Also highlighted are Lincoln's struggles with his perceptions of culture and tyranny, illustrating the complex interplay between history and identity in warfare.
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How Americans Learned The 17th-Century Past
- 19th-century Americans learned about the English Civil Wars largely through popular British histories, not formal coursework.
- These widely read works shaped public debate because historians like Macaulay became common reference points.
A Bipolar View Of The English Civil Wars
- Americans perceived the English Civil Wars in bipolar terms: royalists (hierarchy) versus parliamentary/Puritan (liberty).
- This simplified framing let 19th-century actors map themselves onto the two camps for political leverage.
Cavaliers And Puritans As Political Identities
- Southern slaveholders embraced the royalist 'cavalier' image to defend hierarchy and stability.
- Abolitionists, by contrast, sometimes cast Cromwell and Puritans as models for militant reformers like John Brown.
