What Would Cause a Civil War Today, According to a Historian
American Revolution expert and author Eli Merritt shares what could legitimately spark a civil war today, if history repeats itself, and why the Founding Fathers supported slavery.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Wikimedia Commons
An American Civil War happening today is possible, and its cause would probably be similar to what caused the one in the 1860s, says Eli Merritt, a political historian at Vanderbilt University and author of Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution.
Merritt joined this bonus episode of The New Abnormal politics podcast to discuss with co-host Danielle Moodie if the division today between the MAGA Republicans and everyone else would be enough to spark an actual war—and he knows exactly the thing that would cause it.
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The historian also tells Danielle three reasons why the Founding Fathers were supportive of slavery when they could have phased out the practice much earlier, besides racism, which he says is one of the reasons.
He breaks down how those reasons connect to what’s happening in American politics today—and what’s to come.
Plus, he gives insight into the lead-up to the American Revolution.
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