Democracy and slavery collided in the early American republic; nowhere more so than in the Democratic-Republican party; the political coalition that elected Thomas Jefferson president in 1800 and governed the United States into the 1820s. Joining southern slaveholders and northern advocates of democracy; the coalition facilitated a dramatic expansion of American slavery and generated ideological conflict over slaveholder power in national politics. Slavery was not an exception to the rise of American democracy; Padraig Riley argues; but was instead central to the formation of democratic institutions and ideals.Slavery and the Democratic Conscience explains how northern men both confronted and accommodated slavery as they joined the Democratic-Republican cause. Although many northern Jeffersonians opposed slavery; they helped build a complex political movement that defended the rights of white men to self-government; American citizenship; and equality and protected the master's right to enslave. Dissenters challenged this consensus; but they faced significant obstacles. Slaveholders resisted interference with slavery; while committed Jeffersonians built an aggressive American nationalism; consolidating an ideological accord between white freedom and slaveholder power.By the onset of the Missouri Crisis in 1819; democracy itself had become an obstacle to antislavery politics; insofar as it bound together northern aspirations for freedom and the institutional power of slavery. That fundamental compromise had a deep influence on democratic political culture in the United States for decades to come.
#1163584 in Books University of Pennsylvania Press 2012-05-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.80 x .80 x 5.90l; .95 #File Name: 0812222059264 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Dr. Fur is a leading scholar in the field ...By LaurieDr. Fur is a leading scholar in the field of Colonial Swedish and Lenape lifeways; focused in the 17th Century Delaware valley. Although I found passages in this book to be a bit more 'speculative' than in her other works; I admire her sometimes rather elegant reinterpretations of the sources. Dr. Fur shows readers alternate; convincing views of Lenape and European encounters; well worth reading.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Buy it.By Gary SchreckengostProfessor Fur did an outstanding job in recounting the difficult history and culture of the Lenape Nation 1600-1800; specifically focusing on the roles of women in the culture. Clearly the title infers that Professor Fur was going to explore the dynamics of when the Lenape became a "women nation" once they were driven from their lands by the sons of William Penn and their new Indian allies; the Go'ano Gan'och'sa'go'jat's Eroni(Big RoofPeople; or the Iroquois); around 1740 (first with the horrid 1732 Lebanon Valley Land Grab of the remaining Unami-Len'api lands and then the even more infamous 1737 Walking Purchase which dispossessed the Unalami-Len'api of their lands and was put into effect by the Philadelphia Indian Conference of 1742 with an Iroquois[or Mengwe] diktat) and were forced to live on Iroquois lands with other "women nations" like the the Shawnee; Conoy; Nanticoke; Minsi; Mohican; Tutelo; etc. The Lenape were considered a "woman nation;" i.e.; bereft of sovereign powers; from around 1740 until 1755; when they decided to take up the hatchet with the French and their native allies against the English in Pennsylvania (thus ignoring their Iroquois land lords and "uncles"). But Fur doesn't really discuss this. He does; however; demonstrate to the reader; time and time again; of the pivotal role that women played (and continue to play) in Lenape-centric households (like mine). Much of the book is in fact spent on the Minsi-Lenapi experience with the Moravian missionaries of modern northeastern Pennsylania (little interest to me; but it was well-done). The real strength of his book is in bringing to America; really for the first time; primary source materials from Swedish colonists that are currently housed in Sweden. He translated these documents into English and blended them well into his narrative.
