Bibliograph

No property in man, slavery and antislavery at the nation's founding, Sean Wilentz

Type

Label

No property in man, slavery and antislavery at the nation's founding, Sean Wilentz

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

No property in man

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1030444700

Responsibility statement

Sean Wilentz

Series statement

The Nathan I. Huggins lectures

Sub title

slavery and antislavery at the nation's founding

Summary

Americans revere the Constitution even as they argue fiercely over its original toleration of racial slavery. Some historians have charged that slaveholders actually enshrined human bondage at the nation's founding. Sean Wilentz shares the dismay but sees the Constitution and slavery differently. Although the proslavery side won important concessions, he asserts, antislavery impulses also influenced the framers' work. Far from covering up a crime against humanity, the Constitution restricted slavery's legitimacy under the new national government. In time, that limitation would open the way for the creation of an antislavery politics that led to Southern secession, the Civil War, and Emancipation. Wilentz's controversial reconsideration upends orthodox views of the Constitution. He describes the document as a tortured paradox that abided slavery without legitimizing it. This paradox lay behind the great political battles that fractured the nation over the next seventy years. As Southern Fire-eaters invented a proslavery version of the Constitution, antislavery advocates, including Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, proclaimed an antislavery version based on the framers' refusal to validate property in man. No Property in Man invites fresh debate about the political and legal struggles over slavery that began during the Revolution and concluded with the Confederacy's defeat. It drives straight to the heart of the most contentious and enduring issue in all of American history.--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Slavery, property, and emancipation in Revolutionary America -- The federal convention and the curse of heaven -- Slavery, antislavery, and the struggle for ratification -- To the Missouri Crisis -- Antislavery, the Constitution, and the coming of the Civil War

Classification