The Slaveholding Republic
An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery
Don E Fehrenbacher author Ward M McAfee editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:12th Dec '02
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Special Commendation, 2002 Frederick Douglass Book Prize
Many leading historians have argued that the Constitution of the United States was a proslavery document, but in this text, Don Fehrenbacher refutes this claim in a history that stretches from the Continental Congress to the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.Many leading historians have argued that the Constitution of the United States was a proslavery document. But in The Slaveholding Republic, one of America's most eminent historians refutes this claim in a landmark history that stretches from the Continental Congress to the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Fehrenbacher shows that the Constitution itself was more or less neutral on the issue of slavery and that, in the antebellum period, the idea that the Constitution protected slavery was hotly debated (many Northerners would concede only that slavery was protected by state law, not by federal law). Nevertheless, he also reveals that U.S. policy abroad and in the territories was consistently proslavery. Fehrenbacher makes clear why Lincoln's election was such a shock to the South and shows how Lincoln's approach to emancipation, which seems exceedingly cautious by modern standards, quickly evolved into a "Republican revolution" that ended the anomaly of the United States as a "slaveholding republic." "Advances our knowledge of the critical relationships of slavery to the American government, placing it in perspective and explaining its meaning.... One could hardly ask for more."--Ira Berlin, The Washington Post
Don E. Fehrenbacher's final book, ably completed and edited by his former student Ward M. McAfee, examines the U.S. government's relations with slavery from the founding of the republic through the Civil War ... because of its clear thesis, broad view, and lively narration, The Slaveholding Republic will surely make an influential contribution to the historiography of American politics and slavery. And, like all good books, it raises important questions that deserve further examination. * American Nineteenth Century History *
The Slaveholding Republic not only advances our knowledge of the critical relationships of slavery to the American government, placing it in perspective and explaining its meaning, but it also helps frame contemporary debates over the perennial question about the relative power of the nation and the locality. One could hardly ask for more. * Ira Berlin, The Washington Post *
A major historian addresses a major theme in the late Don Fehrenbacher's The Slaveholding Republic. Rigorously based on the original sources, this book accurately and soberly relates the shameful story of how the federal government treated human beings as property. * Daniel Walker Howe, Rhodes Professor of American History, Oxford University *
Engagingly written, thoughtfully conceived, and filled with flashes of insight. Here is a compelling contribution to the ongoing debate about the nation's ends and means, its better angels, and its fundamental law. * Phillip Shaw Paludan, author of "A People's Contest": The Union and the Civil War *
- Winner of Winner of the 2002 Avery O. Craven Award of the Organization of American Historians Special Commendation, 2002 Frederick Douglass Book Prize.
ISBN: 9780195158052
Dimensions: 151mm x 231mm x 33mm
Weight: 626g
480 pages