The Slaveholding Republic

Posted on 23 November 2017 by Don E. Fehrenbacher

William Lloyd Garrison argued and many leading historians have since agreed that the Constitution of the United States was a proslavery document Garrison called it a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell But in The Slaveholding Republic, one of America s most eminent historians, Don E Fehrenbacher, argues against this claim, in a wide ranging, landmark history that stretches from the Continental Congress to the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln Fehrenbacher ranges from sharp eyed analyses of the deal making behind the proslavery clauses of the constitution, to colorful accounts of partisan debates in Congress and heated confrontations with Great Britain for instance, over slaves taken off American ships and freed in British ports He shows us that the Constitution itself was 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 US policy whether in foreign courts, on the high seas, in federal territories, or even in the District of Columbia was consistently proslavery The book concludes with a brilliant portrait of Lincoln 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 The last and perhaps most important book by a Pulitzer Prize winning historian, The Slaveholding Republic illuminates one of the most enduring issues in our nation s history. Read The Slaveholding Republic – kino-fada.fr This author is a well noted historian He argues in this volume that the framers of the Constitution had not intended to make slavery a national institution Despite this, a Southern dominated Congress managed to provide protection within the national government enabling it to survive Not all Americans acquiesced in this new understanding, leading to a sectionalization of politics that produced a bloody conflagration The author argues that the Constitution was neither pro nor anti slavery in i This author is a well noted historian He argues in this volume that the framers of the Constitution had not intended to make slavery a national institution Despite this, a Southern dominated Congress managed to provide protection within the national government enabling it to survive Not all Americans acquiesced in this new understanding, leading to a sectionalization of politics that produced a bloody conflagration The author argues t...Another extraordinary achievement of the late, lamented historian of the US during the early national and antebellum periods He traces quite clearly how the federal government protected slavery from the adoption of the federal constitution until the Civil War.The review found under the following linkhttp rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com sums up my impression of Fehrenbacher s book as well I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.Understanding Oppression African American Rights Then and Now The Slaveholding Republic An Account of the United States Government s Relations to slavery

English
23 November 2017

Don E. Fehrenbacher