Slavery and Sectional Strife in the Early American Republic, 1776–1821 (American Controversies) - Softcover

Kornblith, Gary J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742550966 ISBN 13: 9780742550964

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009

Synopsis

Slavery and Sectional Strife in the Early American Republic, 1776-1821 focuses on slavery as a moral and political issue that threatened the unity and stability of the United States from the nation's inception. In tracing the story of slavery in America's history from 1776 through the Missouri Compromise, Gary J. Kornblith highlights a number of important themes: the general acceptance of slavery in colonial America, the reevaluation of human bondage during the American Revolution, how decisions made by the Founding Fathers shaped the future of slavery in the new United States, and whether the Civil War was the inevitable result of those decisions. Students are encouraged to reach their own conclusions through reading key primary documents.

About this title

About the Author

Gary J. Kornblith is professor of history at Oberlin College. He is the editor of The Industrial Revolution in America and co-editor of Teaching American History.

Review

Because Gary Kornblith's new book combines a short, informed narrative with unusually well chosen documents, it comprises an excellent choice for undergraduate assignments on the crucial first phase of the U.S. slavery controversy. (William W. Freehling, author of The Road to Disunion)

Gary Kornblith's wonderful new book provides an invaluable survey of the documents and debates that shaped antislavery discussion in the early republic. Teachers will love Kornblith's wide selection of primary sources while even academic specialists will learn from his wise and judicious introductions. A terrific addition to the scholarly resources now available on slavery and politics in early national society. (Richard S. Newman, author of Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers)

Kornblith's concise narrative is a perfect introduction to a set of documents that will allow my students the opportunity to debate the issue of slavery as a cancer that ate away at the fiber of the American nation. A much needed undergraduate text. (Gary A. DiNallo, Southern Connecticut State University)

Informed by decades of scholarship and teaching, Gary Kornblith presents a sorely needed collection of documents on the politics of slavery and antislavery in the era of the American Revolution and the Early Republic. Opening with an introduction that will stand for years as the best short analysis of the subject, Kornblith's judiciously assembled documents will enliven both teaching and research on one of our nation's most perplexing historical problems. (John L. Brooke, Ohio State University)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0742550966
• ISBN 13: 9780742550964
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 180