ebooks Everybody Say Freedom: Everything You Need to Know About African-American History by Richard Newman; Marcia Sawyer in History

Description

For decades; the Commonwealth of Virginia led the nation. The premier state in population; size; and wealth; it produced a galaxy of leaders: Washington; Jefferson; Madison; Monroe; Mason; Marshall. Four of the first five presidents were Virginians. And yet by the middle of the nineteenth century; Virginia had become a byword for slavery; provincialism; and poverty. What happened? In her remarkable book; Dominion of Memories; historian Susan Dunn reveals the little known story of the decline of the Old Dominion. While the North rapidly industrialized and democratized; Virginia's leaders turned their backs on the accelerating modern world. Spellbound by the myth of aristocratic; gracious plantation life; they waged an impossible battle against progress and time itself. In their last years; two of Virginia's greatest sons; Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; grappled vigorously with the Old Dominion's plight. But bound to the traditions of their native soil; they found themselves grievously torn by the competing claims of state and nation; slavery and equality; the agrarian vision and the promises of economic development and prosperity. This fresh and penetrating examination of Virginia's struggle to defend its sovereignty; traditions; and unique identity encapsulates; in the history of a single state; the struggle of an entire nation drifting inexorably toward Civil War.