The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to SlaveryMany 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." |
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION | 3 |
2 SLAVERY AND THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC | 15 |
3 SLAVERY IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL | 49 |
4 SLAVERY IN AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS | 89 |
5 THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE 1789 TO 1842 | 135 |
6 THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE 1842 TO 1862 | 173 |
7 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE PROBLEM TO 1850 | 205 |
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31 Cong abolition abolitionism abolitionist Abraham Lincoln African Americans African slave trade amendment American Slavers antislavery argument August authority bill Boston Britain British Buchanan Calhoun Civil clause committee compromise Confederate Congress congressional Constitution Convention Cuba CWAL debate December decision declared Democratic District of Columbia Douglas Dred Scott emancipation enforcement federal government Fehrenbacher foreign free blacks fugitive slave Fugitive Slave Act Fugitive Slave Law Haiti Henry History House Ibid issue James James Buchanan Jefferson John Quincy Adams jury Justice Kansas-Nebraska Act later legislation legislature Louisiana Madison Maryland ment Missouri Negro North northern Northwest Ordinance officers owners party Pennsylvania persons political president presidential proposed proslavery Reconstruction Republican resolution right of search secretary sectional Senate Serial sess ships slavery South Carolina southern Speeches Suppression Supreme Court territories Texas three-fifths compromise tion treaty Union United University Press vessels Virginia vols vote Washington Webster William York