by Edmund S. Morgan
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Product Description
"If it is possible to understand the American paradox, the marriage of slavery and freedom, Virginia is surely the place to begin," writes Edmund S. Morgan in American Slavery, American Freedom, a study of the tragic contradiction at the core of America. Morgan finds the key to this central paradox in the people and politics of the state that was both the birthplace of the revolution and the largest slaveholding state in the country. With a new introduction. Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize and the Albert J. Beveridge Award.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Very Good, but with Some Curious Touches, 2008-09-11
Overall, this is a very good book. I particularly enjoyed the author's deft use of irony and wry humor. It was very informative to read another discussion of the inconsistency between the Virginians' proclamation of liberty and their heavy reliance on slave labor, and on how this reliance developed. Of course, the basic point is not an original one; even in his "Outline of History", H. G. Wells, in considering the questions of freedom and slavery, comments on the "splendid comedy" of the American story.
I agree with a previous reviewer that the title may mislead a prospective reader. The book does not give a comprehensive discussion of American slavery. Rather, while the author certainly disapproves of slavery, his main interest seems to be in how it tended to release the humbler class of whites from many pressures and in how it may have provided Virginia thinkers with perspectives that increased their appreciation for liberty. Also misleading, in the paperback edition, is the use on the cover of a painting of an early trial of Whitney's cotton gin, introduced in the 1790's, well after the period covered by the author, when tobacco and corn were still the principal crops.
The author does not say so explicitly, but there is the suggestion that a republican form of government ought to be antithetical to slavery. Surely Virginia and the other American colonies are not the only contrary examples. I believe I have read that in the glory days of Athens, with its democratic impulses, perhaps half of the population was slave.
Again, this is a very informative and interesting book, but more specialized than the title indicates.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Excellent, 2008-06-24
This very well written and researched book is an effort to answer a single interesting question; why were so many of the great Founders slaveholding Virginians? To address this apparent paradox, Morgan investigates the history of colonial Virginia from its founding to the mid-18th century, reconstructing the evolution of the planter caste and their attitudes. Morgan shows that despite the intentions of the founders of the Virginia colony, its economic life rapidly became centered on production of tobacco, a crop requiring intense labor and considerable land. The demands of this form of commercially oriented staple agriculture required forms of coerced labor, initially indentured servants from Britain. Morgan shows very well how these needs interacted with English attitudes towards the poor and the desire of many in the mother country to export the apparently able-bodied poor. The result, by the mid-17th century, was rather brutal and strongly oligarchic society dominated by a planter class with a get rich quick mentality. Morgan's description of the high mortality and general brutality of life in the Virginia colony in the first half of the 17th century is unsparing and vivid. Part of the brutality of the colony was the often vicious treatment of the native peoples, whose existence was a continuous source of anxiety for the European settlers. Conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans greatly exacerbated racist attitudes. From early in the colony's history, Morgan identifies another persistent theme, that of conflict with the government in England. Morgan shows well the basic economic and political conflicts between the demands of the Crown and the planter oligarchy. After the Glorious Revolution, the Crown adopted an essentially hands off approach to governing Virginia, allowing the planter oligarchy virtually complete autonomy.
In the 17th century, however, the oligarchic nature of the colony created considerable social and political problems because of planter dominance and exploitation of poorer Europeans. This led intermittantly to considerable social unrest, including Bacon's Rebellion, the largest uprising against colonial/royal authority prior to the Revolution. Morgan argues that the adoption of African chattel slavery was not only economically advantageous as European immigration fell off but also politically advantageous because it led to a declining number of poor whites. Particularly after the Glorious Revolution, the absence of a large number of poor Europeans and the particular form of electoral politics in Virginia allowed the planter class to pursue social leadership in a kind of republican format. This form of leadership and social deference was undoubtedly enhanced by the presence of so many Africa slaves, who provided a stimulus for ethnic solidarity among white Virginians. Morgan argues that these social and political realities were reinforced by the spread of the dissident Whig republican ideologies that were common in the colonies in the 18th century.
This is brilliant piece of historical analysis. Morgan shows that the revolutionary attitudes of the planter class, exemplified by individuals such as Madison, Jefferson, Washington, Henry, et al. were the result of a specific historical process in which chattel slavery played a crucial role. Paradox resolved though the conflict between the ideals of liberty enunciated by the Founders and the reality of African chattel slavery presented a subsuquent paradox whose consequences are still with us.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Great book, 2007-08-03
I wanted a better understanding of day-to-day life in Colonial Virginia, from the founding of Jamestown forward to 1776. I also wanted a better understanding of the origins of slavery in Virginia. Mr. Morgan brings this information home in staggering detail, yet his writing style makes it an "easy read". The research that must have gone into this book is truly amazing, as reflected by the thorough footnotes and citations. Though I am no expert myself, an amateur history buff at best, I was certainly left with the impression that this is THE definitive book on the history of colonial Virginia. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 No slavery, 2007-06-07
This was a meticulously researched history of the economic and social conditions that facilitated the establishment of slavery in Virginia. Very well done. But if you are looking for a book about 'American Slavery,' this is not it. I was disappointed. I expected a broader book exploring the early decades of slavery throughout America, as the title suggests. But I reached page 355 here and realized unhappily that the end was approaching and no space had been devoted to slavery. Find the history of slavery elsewhere.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Important contribution to the scholarship on slavery in colonial America, 2007-06-02
In an acute discussion about ordeals and conquests, American Slavery, American Freedom shapes a carefully framed narrative around how slavery and freedom grew together. This exploration by Historian Edmund Morgan illuminates the circumstances which made it possible for slavery and freedom to simultaneously exist. "It is a story," contends Morgan, "of how one set of Americans arrived at the American paradox, an attempt to see how slavery and freedom made their way to England's first American colony and grew there together, the one supporting the other." (6) The main theme surrounds the development of land use in the New World. Much like Anthony Parent's work Foul Means, we discover colonial Virginia as the vehicle for understanding the seemingly blatant contradiction between the parallel growth of slavery and freedom.
Concentrating on early Virginia history, the narrative, separated into four compact sections, follows a chronological path that seems to inadvertently parallel tobacco history in early America. The overarching theme, however, concentrates on the importance of labor in colonial Virginia. As noted in Parent's work, labor became the chief pillar for economic stability of the colonial oligarchy.
Discussion in the first chapters about Englishmen, who wanted to liberate Indians and 'Blacks' from the colonial `other,' mainly the Spanish colonizers, sets the foundation for an oft told tale of colonial America. The hope, we learn from Morgan, was that all parties in the New World could co-exist in peaceful harmony. This, however, was far from the reality of the time. Slavery brought social peace to Virginia, contends Morgan, and racism acted as a common bond between whites of all classes. This amalgamation against the black labor force worked to preserve order in the colonies and place the planter elite at the top of the food chain.
Combining a multitude of primary sources from Virginia and England such as court records, economic data, and especially population statistics, we learn where Parent gained the lion's share of his evidence for Foul Means. Moreover, it appears that Morgan is the original source for interpreting how servitude declined as slavery increased in the New World. He lists declining tobacco prices and taxation from the crown as the main reasons, as does Parent, for the rise of slavery in early Virginia. The emergence of racism, argues Morgan, unified all whites - both the poor and the oligarchy, and served to suppress and isolate the Africans in American society.
Bacon's rebellion, argues Morgan, was "a rebellion with abundant causes but without a cause." (269) This insurrection, however, tilted the white social class in the favor of the richer planters. "Resentment of an alien race," contends Morgan, "might be more powerful than resentment of an upper class." Thus, the lower white servant class aligned with the Virginia oligarchy who then drew exclusively from the black work force for labor requirements.
A minor point, but Morgan's chronological order and focus on one geographic region detracts ever so slightly from the premise of his work, which emphasizes "American Slavery." Is it really American slavery or is it just Virginia slavery? He does discuss Barbados and touches on its colonial history, but most of the evidence and focus centers on colonial Virginia. Also, the focus on tobacco as an economic staple makes one wonder if other agriculture products such as corn and livestock played a financial role in colonial America? We are left guessing, as very little evidence is revealed about other economic staples.
Despite the previously noted discrepancies, the work is undoubtedly an important contribution to the scholarship on slavery in colonial America. Any serious American slavery scholar needs to read this work carefully, as it provides a succinct account of how slavery emerged in nascent colonial America.
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