{"product_id":"south-to-freedom-runaway-slaves-to-mexico-and-the-road-to-the-civil-war","title":"South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War","description":"\u003cdiv data-a-expander-name=\"book_description_expander\" data-a-expander-collapsed-height=\"280\" class=\"a-expander-collapsed-height a-row a-expander-container a-spacing-base a-expander-partial-collapse-container\" style=\"max-height: none; height: 280px;\"\u003e \u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px;\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA ‚Äúgripping and poignant‚Äù (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e) account of the coming of the American Civil War, showing the crucial role of slaves who escaped to Mexico \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Underground Railroad to the North promised salvation to many American slaves before the Civil War. But thousands of people in the south-central United States escaped slavery not by heading north but by crossing the southern border into Mexico, where slavery was abolished in 1837. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSouth to Freedom\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, prize-winning historian Alice L. Baumgartner tells the story of why Mexico abolished slavery and how its increasingly radical antislavery policies fueled the sectional crisis in the United States. Southerners hoped that annexing Texas and invading Mexico in the 1840s would stop runaways and secure slavery‚Äôs future. Instead, the seizure of Alta California and Nuevo M√©xico upset the delicate political balance between free and slave states. This is an essential new perspective on antebellum America and the causes of the Civil War. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWinner of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the California Book Award for Nonfiction \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Caughey Western History Prize \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Willie Lee Rose Prize \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Nonfiction \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eFinalist for the California Independent Booksellers Alliance‚Äôs Golden Poppy Award \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003c\/div\u003eder-toggle=\"{\"allowLinkDefault\":true, \"expand_prompt\":\"Read more\", \"collapse_prompt\":\"Read less\"}\"\u0026gt;\u003ci class=\"a-icon a-icon-extender-expand\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-expander-prompt\"\u003eRead more\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e ","brand":"Basic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50278355468573,"sku":"9781541617766","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0901\/5692\/5213\/files\/9781541617766.jpg?v=1755708152","url":"https:\/\/bookdelico.com\/products\/south-to-freedom-runaway-slaves-to-mexico-and-the-road-to-the-civil-war","provider":"Book Delico ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}