The Slaveholding Republic

The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery [Paperback]
the late Don E. Fehrenbacher (Author), Ward M. McAfee (Editor)
Was the Constitution, one of our nation's most revered documents, designed to provide for the protection of slavery, the country's greatest disgrace? This study, begun by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Fehrenbacher (The Dred Scott Case), addresses this highly significant and controversial topic. Completed after Fehrenbacher's death by McAfee (history, California State Univ., San Bernardino), the work concludes that the Constitution's framers did not intend to protect slavery but that, from 1789 to 1861, the federal government most often acted to protect the institution. Moreover, when Lincoln was elected in 1861, slaveholding states, no longer sure of Constitutional guarantees, seceded from the Union. This final work by a distinguished authority on the Constitution, slavery, and Lincoln reviews federal debate, compromise, and foreign policy surrounding slavery from the early republic to the 1860s. It will be read by specialists and is recommended for larger academic libraries. Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ.