This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1862 Excerpt: ...the avenues of unrecorded time. 8. I protest against a surrender of the navigation of the Mississippi River, and would not, if elected to the office of Governor, agree to relinquish the right Tennessee has to the free navigation of that great "inland sea," if even the General Government should basely surrender its rights and the rights of the several Western and Northwestern States. Nor am I willing to recognize the act of Secession on the part of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas in any other light than that of dishonesty and treason, meriting the scorn and contempt of the civilized world. I say this because of the vast amount of money paid by our Government, to say nothing of the sacrifice of human life, for the exclusive benefit of these three States. Louisiana, (purchased of France, ) $15,000,000; interest paid, $8,385,353; Florida, (purchased of Spain, ) $5,000,000; interest paid, $1,430,000; Texas, (boundary, ) $10,000,000; Texas, (for indemnity, ) $10,000,000; Texas, (for creditors, last Congress, ) $7,750,000; Indian expenses of all kinds, $5,000,000; to purchase navy, pay troops, $5,000,000; all other expenditures, $3,000,000; Mexican War, $217,175,575; soldiers' pensions and bountylands, $100,000,000; Florida War, $100,000,000; soldiers' pensions, $7,000,000; to remove Indians, $5,000,000; paid by treaty for New Mexico, $15,000,000; paid to extinguish Indian titles, $100,000,000; raid to Georgia, $3,082,000; total cost, $617,822,928. Ought these three rebellious States to be tolerated in their mad schemes of plunder and treason, after costing the people of the other States six hundred and eighteen millions of dollars? I say, No; and, as the Executive of this State, I could never do an act that would in the remotest degree tolerate this wholesale ...

This work discusses the rise, progression and decline of pro-secession views in Tennessee before and during the Civil War.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1838.

"Readers will find Brownlow unique, above all, but as entertaining as he is sometimes thrillingly loathsome, full of great energy and rhetorical skill and rambunctiousness in the tradition of the tall tale vernacular writers of the time." -- David Madden, Director of the United States Civil War Center East Tennessee newspaper editor and Methodist preacher William G. "Parson" Brownlow, a man of fervent principles and combative temperament, gained fame during the secession crisis as a staunch, outspoken southern unionist. Unlike most southern unionists, however, Brownlow refused to renounce his loyalty to the Union after the Civil War broke out. He continued to write editorial tirades against the Confederacy until forcibly silenced by southern authorities. Arrested, jailed, and ultimately banished to the North, Brownlow continued his war of words against the Confederacy through speaking tours and through the publication in 1862 of Sketches of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Secession; with a Narrative of Personal Adventures Among the Rebels -- a best-selling but ill-organized hodgepodge of his editorials, speeches, letters, and commentary. Secessionists and Other Scoundrels, a collection of selected excerpts from Brownlow's original, offers an accessible and powerful explication of the parson's unionism and a moving narrative of his travails under Confederate rule, without sacrificing the vitriolic prose and scathing wit for which he was celebrated -- and denounced. In these pages the inimitable parson is at his best. By turns sarcastic, angry, high-minded, informative, compassionate, and droll, he forthrightly proclaims his convictions and excoriates his foes. Every sentence exemplifies the motto that adorned the masthead of his newspaper, the Knoxville Whig: "Cry aloud and spare not." In an informative introduction, editor Stephen V. Ash places the excerpts in context by sketching Brownlow's career, summarizing his historical significance, and discussing the history of the book itself. Civil War scholars and enthusiasts will welcome Secessionists and Other Scoundrels as an exciting and entertaining opportunity to be reintroduced to one of the era's most colorful and controversial characters.