The Civil War: Mapping the Sectional Crisis

Historians view the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 as a turning point, igniting northern resistance to the expansion of slavery. Far less noted is the crucial role of political maps, which visualized that threat in meetings, newspapers, and pamphlets, helping forge the anti-slavery coalition that elected Lincoln. Historian Susan Schulten shows how these maps reshaped perceptions of the American West—and the nation itself.