A major contribution to our understanding of slavery in the early republic; Deliver Us from Evil illuminates the white South's twisted and tortured efforts to justify slavery; focusing on the period from the drafting of the federal constitution in 1787 through the age of Jackson. Drawing heavily on primary sources; including newspapers; government documents; legislative records; pamphlets; and speeches; Lacy K. Ford recaptures the varied and sometimes contradictory ideas and attitudes held by groups of white southerners as they tried to square slavery with their democratic ideals. He excels at conveying the political; intellectual; economic; and social thought of leading white southerners; vividly recreating the mental world of the varied actors and capturing the vigorous debates over slavery. He also shows that there was not one antebellum South but many; and not one southern white mindset but several; with the debates over slavery in the upper South quite different in substance from those in the deep South. In the upper South; where tobacco had fallen into comparative decline by 1800; debate often centered on how the area might reduce its dependence on slave labor and "whiten" itself; whether through gradual emancipation and colonization or the sale of slaves to the cotton South. During the same years; the lower South swirled into the vortex of the "cotton revolution;" and that area's whites lost all interest in emancipation; no matter how gradual or fully compensated.An ambitious; thought-provoking; and highly insightful book; Deliver Us from Evil makes an important contribution to the history of slavery in the United States; shedding needed light on the white South's early struggle to reconcile slavery with its Revolutionary heritage.
#1233340 in Books Lacy K Ford 2009-08-15Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 6.20 x 2.10 x 9.30l; 2.38 #File Name: 019511809X688 pagesDeliver Us from Evil The Slavery Question in the Old South
Review
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A Well Written and Carefully Reserched BookBy Lionel S. TaylorThis is and excellent well written book on the efforts of the antebellum American South to deal with the question of slavery. What the author demonstrates with plenty of evidence is that the question of the "peculiar institution" was delt with in diffrent ways by diffrent regions. Unlike what is often believed;the South was not a monolithic entity in lock step agreement with what to do about slavery. There were divisions along class and regional lines and even on how best to prevent revolts and rebellions. The authors examination of the paternalism movement is especially intresting and well reserched. The one thing that seemed to unify the Slave states was outside criticism and Ford does an excellent job of showing how the diffrent regions reacted to this percieved outside threat. I highly recommend this book to anyone intrested in the debated going on about the problem of slavery in the South in the period leading up to its bloody resolution.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Scott Orrexcellent2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Excellent!By NextcastExcellent overview of a most difficult time in our history. Not information we particularly want to remember; but something every American should know.
