In a lively interpretive history, Kolchin (History/Univ. of
Delaware) succinctly traces America's institution of slavery from
its Colonial beginnings to the Reconstruction era. American
slavery, Kolchin explains, didn't develop in isolation but evolved
as part of a trend toward forced labor in the New World colonies,
especially in the Caribbean and Brazil. In Colonial America, "the
initial demand for labor was precisely that - for labor - and was
largely color-blind." Most forced laborers were indentured servants
from Great Britain; although some slavery existed as early as the
founding, in the early 17th century, of the Virginia colony, not
until that century's close were Africans. imported in large numbers
as slaves. Kolchin reveals that, while the plantation slavery of
what was to become the South developed distinctively (and primarily
to cultivate tobacco and cotton), it had much in common with the
plantation slavery of the Caribbean (where sugar was the primary
crop). By about 1770, American slavery was concentrated mostly in
the South, though it existed in all of the American colonies, and,
as time passed, relationships between slaves and masters changed as
second-generation slaves lost much of their African culture and
became Americanized. In the US - in contrast to the Caribbean -
slaves lived longer, developed considerable occupational diversity,
and became acculturated, particularly in their absorption of
Protestantism. The Revolutionary era saw slavery threatened by
Enlightenment ideology, but the institution survived more strongly
than ever in the South and, during the 19th century, came to be
perceived as fundamental to the Southern economy and way of life.
Kolchin writes about slave life through the Civil War, and, not
surprisingly, he sees slavery as leaving a legacy that has
persisted throughout our own century. A clear and briskly written
survey that puts slavery in context and explains its continuing
impact on American life. (Kirkus Reviews)
'Although Americans like to think the United States was "conceived in liberty",' writes Peter Kolchin, 'the reality is somewhat different ...'
The crucial 'difference', of course, was slavery. Here he examines its roots in the colonial era, early racial attitudes, the new Revolutionary commitment to 'rights' and 'liberty', and the implicit boost given to slavery by a cautiously worded Constitution. Later chapters turn to the ideologies and social structures of the old South, the nature of slave culture and communities, and finally the road to abolition. Professor Kolchin brilliantly knits together research in all these areas to provide a lucid, vivid and humane overview, which is fully alive to the complexities of the evidence.
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