American Slavery, American Freedom

Oct 16, 2008 Sara-Maria Sorentino rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternativehistories, liberalism-empire, slavery

We paint a utopic picture, quite literally straight out of Thomas More (Morgan, 23)—and we paint with broad and inspired brush strokes “…the ingenious innovation of the Elizabethan conquistadores and their circle of promoters of American colonization was their forging of a discourse of conquest that spoke with intense and legitimating passion to their countrymen’s own emerging and merging sense of material and spiritual manifest destiny. The Elizabethan could passionately pursue either side of t...more We paint a utopic picture, quite literally straight out of Thomas More (Morgan, 23)—and we paint with broad and inspired brush strokes “…the ingenious innovation of the Elizabethan conquistadores and their circle of promoters of American colonization was their forging of a discourse of conquest that spoke with intense and legitimating passion to their countrymen’s own emerging and merging sense of material and spiritual manifest destiny. The Elizabethan could passionately pursue either side of the colonizing equation of religious reformation and imperial revenue, for English colonizing discourse of the early Discovery era confirmed a faith that in pursuing the one goal, the Elizabethan New World crusader also assuredly secured the other” (Robert Williams, 185).

We mix a civilizing mission with the promise of economic gain and cosmopolitan civility. In the meantime, and this is crucial, we avert our gaze from the eyesore closer to our hearts. Aesthetics. It’s a beautiful formulation. We paint over the mistakes and hope our colours don’t run. In an effort to rescue the rabble of the homeland, we first directly export the problem of persistent poverty, this time from England to the North American coastline. Ah, the ideals: “If all had gone as planned, Virginia should have presented an idyllic scene: tenants producing new commodities for the English market, enriching their sponsors while they laid up a nest egg for themselves, Indians learning English technology and religion in the bosom of the English settlement, the two races blending in a new community of good will. Instead, once again, good intentions paved the way to race war, famine, disease, death, and tobacco” (Morgan, 98).

We have some baser motives, of course, that accompany the land and wealth promised to the masses sent on ships for stints of indentured servitude: “although the hoped-for transformation was supposed to be morally uplifting to those who experienced it, the purpose was not merely charitable. The wretches who were rescued from idleness and unemployment must be sufficiently able-bodied to make the rescue worth the rescuer’s trouble” (235), but all in all, it’s an exchange of equality. A contract. But what to do when, after all the trouble of shipping them, of giving them resources, of saving them (along with ourselves), the indentured servants don’t follow the rules? When they are insolent, for example? When they don’t want to work? When they drink and fornicate and run off to the nearby Native Americans? When they are given freedom only to become competitors that depreciate the value of tobacco? Or worse still, when they don’t circulate any value at all? When their mutinies are exacerbated to the height of civil war? Well, we whip them, we tax them, we fine them, we ignore high mortality rates, we create an artificial scarcity of land, we extend the terms of their service, we reduce their possibilities for participating in a meaningful civil society, we take away their weapons (295). We inure them and corral them into workhouses, when they let us. We do everything but actually enslave them. Why? Because we fear the transition period. We fear rebellion, we fear loss in revenue.

But not to worry, we have a scapegoat or two. Bring on the lively (and deadening) dialectic of race and class.

We have people whose differences are so divergent so as to not even constitute as accessible for salvation. These are the others we’ve externalized so much that they can never be brought within the fold. People who massacres we’ve justified for the grave crime of remaining on their land and retaining their traditions. We so don’t want to be like them that we would rather starve for decades than debase ourselves by planting corn in so vulgar a fashion. For, “If you were a colonist”, and no doubt we are, “you knew that your technology was superior to the Indians’. You knew that you were civilized, and they were savages. It was evident in your firearms, your clothing, your housing, your government, your religion. The Indians were supposed to be overcome with admiration and to join you in extracting riches from the country. But your superior technology had proved insufficient to extract anything. The Indians, keeping to themselves, laughed at your superior methods and lived from the land more abundantly and with less labor than you did. They even furnished you with the food that you somehow did not get around to growing enough of yourselves. To be thus condescend to by heathen savages was intolerable. And when your own people started deserting in order to live with them, it was too much…So you killed the Indians, tortured them, burned their villages, burned their cornfields. It proved your superiority in spite of your failures. And you gave similar treatment to any of your own people who succumbed to the savage way of life. But you still did not grow much corn. That was not what you had come to Virginia for” (90). The unfortunate thing about these Native Americans is that they know the lay of the land. It isn’t as efficient to keep them enslaved because they keep running off to their godless dens. But they are similar enough to another peoples’ readily available, at a cost.

And eventually, after a few decades, the cost is worth it. The indentured servants aren’t coming with such regularity as they’ve caught word of our brutality. And the ones that do stay are so increasingly belligerent that their rebellious maneuverings are too dangerous. So we import slaves. African slaves. And we relate to them with the same hostility and disgust that we do the Native Americans, if we have to relate to them at all.

The funny thing is, they remind us of our very own impoverished class, the poor are that “vile and brutish part of mankind” and the slaves too are “a brutish sort of people” (325). Because of their similarities, we can only guess what sort of vile and savage uprising would result if “the freemen with disappointed hopes should make common cause with slaves of desperate hope” (328). When they get together, oh what a ruckus: they plot, they steal, they fuck, they escape. They disrupt our tidy categories and unsettle our sense of place and purpose. So we must again take charge. We must, once again, set out to save our own poor lot with “social, psychological, and political advantages that turn[s] the thrust of exploitation away from them and align[s] them with the exploiters”, with us (344), must take property from the black and give to the white, we must delink Christian conversion from emancipation (331-7), we must police and punish sexual relationships whose offspring challenge categories we are working so hard to solidify, we must do this all by codifying racism into the heart of law. And we must believe it. With these measures in place, we can now collude with the poor whites, for those freedmen who once plagued us so are now smaller planters themselves, and our interests have become similar enough—we are both affected by taxes and by debt and by the rise and fall of prices of our cash crop and we are united and equal members of the tripartite “Christianity, whiteness and freedom” against “heathenism, non-whiteness and slavery” (331).

We see now slavery everywhere, and we thrive off of it. It is the air we breathe. And you know what’s great? We can “more safely preach equality in a slave society than in a free one” (380). For we have built a world that encourages us to beat, silence, rape, maim and exterminate the fight out of all those might challenge our definitions of freedom; we write laws that condone and make just our tyranny.

We are commissioned by those across the land to pen declarations of independence, and we are celebrated and loved for our plans.

And I’m guessing when explicit slavery becomes too costly, we will plan again. And again and again. And we’ll call this planning the free market. And we’ll shock everyone into bowing down before us and they will quiver in our wake.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Feb 23, 2013 Robert Owen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic, must read book for anyone interested in the origins of American racism. Morgan recounts the cultural, economic and political evolution of the 17th and early 18th century Virginia, and with it, makes comprehensible the reasons why racial slavery emerged as an integral component to the development of the white community’s pre-revolutionary ideals of independence and liberty.

At the founding of the Jamestown colony in 1607, Virginia offered vast tracts of land available to anyon...more This is a fantastic, must read book for anyone interested in the origins of American racism. Morgan recounts the cultural, economic and political evolution of the 17th and early 18th century Virginia, and with it, makes comprehensible the reasons why racial slavery emerged as an integral component to the development of the white community’s pre-revolutionary ideals of independence and liberty.

At the founding of the Jamestown colony in 1607, Virginia offered vast tracts of land available to anyone willing to make the trip and who could survive their first season (or two or three) in the New World. Unlike in England where opportunities for land ownership were constrained, the fact that Virginia land was to be had for the taking made the economic equation simple – more labor = more profits. To provide this labor, England’s surplus poor (of which there was an overabundance) were sent to Virginia as indentured servants for a period of four to seven years in order to work off the costs of their relocation. Once their indenture period was over, they were free…..and poor. Over time, as established interests grabbed more and more of the land, opportunities for released bondsmen decrease, essentially creating an ever-growing class of destitute (and thoroughly despised) whites who threatened the social and political stability of the colony. Racial slavery was introduced over time to stem this proliferation of poor whites, who, after having served the term of their indenture, were free to be a “blight” on the community.

These planter elites were also constantly at political war with a succession of governors appointed by the crown to manage the affairs of the colony in a manner most beneficial to the king. By enfranchising poor whites and enlisting their support for the colonial assembly, the elites were able to exercise political power over affairs of the colony in a manner most beneficial to the colonists, rich and poor alike. The result of these forces caused a major adjustment in white social strata – the role of detested poor who would only work under the threat of the lash was imposed upon enslaved blacks, and poor whites were elevated to the level of political partners with the elites. This simultaneously endowed all whites with a fierce sense of entitlement over their political rights and the prerogatives of power on the one hand, and contempt for their black slaves on the other. Liberty and equality came to be seen as inalienable birthrights while slavery was the means by which the “shiftless, lazy, indolent” poor could be transformed from burdens on society to positive (albeit brutally coerced) contributors. In other words, Virginia whites came to think of blacks with the same sense of scorn and contempt that English aristocrats held for the poor in England while, at the same time, assuming as a birthright the same sense of political entitlement enjoyed by the elite class in England. It was this, to our modern eyes, bizarre combination of egalitarian and tyrannical ideals that informed and inspired Jefferson, Washington and Madison (among others) as they participated in the formation of what would become the United States.

The implication of this history on modern political discourse is obvious. Those who today passionately cite the liberty-loving ethos of the founding fathers while simultaneously exhibiting contempt for the poor are only looking at one side of the equation. For the Virginians, slavery and liberty went hand in hand; without the one there could not have been the other. A full, rich and nuanced understanding of our heritage compels us to recognize the human inclination to despise and exploit the powerless with the same vigor and passion that we celebrate the ennobling power of freedom.

On a final note of criticism – while the book does a masterful job of making the origins of colonial racism comprehensible, it does so at the expense of “black experience” narratives. The story addresses issues of slavery only to the extent of discussing laws passed throughout the pre-revolutionary period in order to institutionalize it and the effect these laws had on the attitudes of whites towards blacks. I started the book expecting a far deeper dive in this area, and was disappointed by how little was presented concerning the evolution of slavery throughout the 17th century from a black perspective. After having read the book, I concede that this deeper dive was not strictly necessary in order for the author to prove his thesis, yet it would have been a stronger work had greater efforts in this area been made.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Feb 22, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is truly fantastic, another book that I thought I was going to have to "grad student read" (intro, conclusion, skim the rest) and then I couldn't put it down. Morgan sets a grand goal for his work here: to examine the central paradox in American history, the fact that the rise of liberty somehow was tied together with the rise of slavery. The perfect place to study this paradox, he argues, is Virginia- first colony, leading Revolutionary state, and eventually staunch slave state.
Morgan's m...more

like · see review

Oct 21, 2011 Jason Palmer rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first 5/6ths of the book don't even talk about slavery, but in the end you realize why this is so. The book is really about the history of the Virginia colony all the way from Roanoke. It's an extremely interesting history by itself, but it is slowly building up an understanding of why slavery became so entrenched. The reasons are surprisingly mundane and so obvious that I'd never thought of them before. One surprising revelation for me was that racism had nothing to do with slavery at firs...more

like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Barksdale Penick rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had expected this book to address in detail the role of slavery in colonial America, but to my surprise it presents by far the most lucid account I have read of the first 100 years of the Virginia colony. During those early years, slavery was rare (although legal). The book recounts the economic circumstances that led to a demand for cheap labor: almost unlimited land and an easy cash crop in tobacco if the owner had access to labor. The book suggests that increased life expectancy made the pu...more

like 1 like · see review

Sep 19, 2012 Alessandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

There is no doubt that Morgan carefully dissects a quintessential paradox within American history: the emergence of American freedom (namely white, male freedom) in the midst of slavery. What Morgan astutely argues is that the specific strain of American freedom he outlines is, in actuality, wedded to slavery. Morgan uses the history of Virginia to examine how these seemingly incompatible institutions and ideologies became strange bedfellows that still rest at the foundation of the United States...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 09, 2011 Kb rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a masterful examination of the extent to which slavery influenced republican ideals made famous by the prominent Virginians among the nation's founders. Interestingly, slavery and racism hardly come up until the final third of the book. The previous sections begin with the late 16th century, tracing Virginia's early development, with particular attention to the big landowners and the attitudes they developed toward small planters and the poor. Racial attitudes developed while pushing nat...more

like · see review

Feb 06, 2013 Blythe King rated it 5 of 5 stars

“There it was. Aristocrats could more safely preach equality in a slave society than in a free one. Slaves did not become leveling mobs, because their owners would see to it that they had no chance to. The apostrophes to equality were not addressed to them. And because Virginia’s labor force was composed mainly of slaves, who had been isolated by race and removed from the political equation, the remaining free laborers and tenant farmers were too few in number to constitute a serious threat to t...more “There it was. Aristocrats could more safely preach equality in a slave society than in a free one. Slaves did not become leveling mobs, because their owners would see to it that they had no chance to. The apostrophes to equality were not addressed to them. And because Virginia’s labor force was composed mainly of slaves, who had been isolated by race and removed from the political equation, the remaining free laborers and tenant farmers were too few in number to constitute a serious threat to the superiority of the men who assured them of their equality. Moreover, the small farmers had been given a reason to see themselves as already the equals of the large. The majority of households in Virginia, as we have seen, contained more than one tithable, and in such cases the working members of the household, other than the head, were probably by this time slaves. The small planter’s small stake in human property placed him on the same side of the fence as the large man, whom he regularly elected to protect his interests. Virginia’s small farmers could perceive a common identity with the large, because there was one, even more compelling than those we have already noticed. Neither was a slave. And both were equal in not being slaves.

This is not to say that a belief in republican equality had to rest on slavery, but only that in Virginia (and probably other southern colonies) it did. The most ardent American republicans were Virginians, and their ardor was not unrelated to their power over the men and women they held in bondage. In the republican way of thinking, as Americans inherited it from England, slavery occupied a critical, if ambiguous, position: it was the primary evil that men sought to avoid for society as a whole by curbing monarchs and establishing republics. But it was also the solution to one of society’s most serious problems, the problem of the poor. Virginians could outdo English republicans as well as New England ones, partly because they had solved the problem: they had achieved a society in which most of the poor were enslaved.” (pg. 380-81)

“Virginia, in spite of her abundant lands, had already encountered a rebellion of the unenslaved poor in 1676. Since then she had gradually replaced her free labor force with slaves, and by 1776, she enjoyed the situation that Andrew Fletcher had wished to achieve in Scotland. Two-fifths of Virginia’s people were as poor as it is possible to get, but they were all enslaved, and all worked productively, for private masters, who were thereby strengthened in their independence and able to take the lead in resisting British tyranny. As if to underline the connection, the Virginia assembly voted in 1780 to reward its soldiers in the fight for freedom with a bounty of 300 acres of land and a slave.

Virginia’s republicans had the decency to be disturbed by the apparent inconsistency of what they were doing. But they were far more disturbed by the prospect of turning 200,000 slaves loose to find a place in their free society. ‘If you free the slaves,’ wrote Landon Carter, two days after the Declaration of Independence, ‘you must send them out of the country or they must steal for their support.’ They would be, after all, what they were, poor, and they would exhibit the congenital laziness and immorality of the poor. Jefferson himself thought that slaves could not safely be freed unless they were exiled. And the only serious plan for their emancipation, proposed by St. George Tucker in 1796, would have transformed their slavery into a kind of serfdom, under which they would still be compelled to labor, lest they become ‘idle, dissipated, and finally a numerous banditti.” But even Tucker’s plan seemed too dangerous to receive serious consideration.

One wonders if it might not have been taken more seriously if Virginia’s slaves had belonged to the same race as their masters. The fact that they did not made it easier for Virginians to use slavery as a flying buttress to freedom. The English had come to view their poor almost as an alien race, with inbred traits of character that justified plans for their enslavement or incarceration in workhouses. Almost, but not quite. It required continual denunciations from a battery of philosophers and reformers; it even required special badges, to proclaim the differentness of the poor to the undiscerning, who might otherwise mistake them for ordinary men.

In Virginia neither badges nor philosophers were needed. It was not necessary to pretend or to prove that the enslaved were a different race, because they were. Anyone could tell black from white, even if black was actually brown or red. And as the number of poor white Virginians diminished, the vicious traits of character attributed by Englishmen to their poor could in Virginia increasingly appear to be the exclusive heritage of blacks. There were ungrateful, irresponsible, lazy, and dishonest. ‘A Negroe can’t be honest,’ said Landon Carter and filled his diary with complaints of the congenital laziness and ingratitude of black men.

Racism thus absorbed in Virginia the fear and contempt that men in England, whether Whig or Tory, monarchist or republican, felt for the inarticulate lower classes. Racism made it possible for white Virginians to develop a devotion to the equality that English republicans had declared to be the soul of liberty. There were too few free poor on hand to matter. And by lumping Indians, mulattoes, and Negroes in a single pariah class, Virginians had paved the way for a similar lumping of small and large planters in a single master class.

Virginians knew that the members of this class were not in fact equal, either in property or in virtue, just as they know that Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians were not one and the same. But the forces which dictated that Virginians see Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians as one also dictated that they see large and small planters as one. Racism became an essential, if unacknowledged, ingredient of the republican ideology that enabled Virginians to lead the nation” (pg.385-86).(less)

like · see review

Nov 19, 2012 Onefinemess rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first thing I notice about a history book is how fast it reads, and this one ready pretty fast – I’m guessing some of that is because an average of 1/4 of each page was filled by citations/annotations – most of which I could skip – but even beyond that it was written in an accessible manner and moved through it pretty quickly as these things go.

This book was basically a history of Virginia, with focus on the social and political constructs that paved the way for slavery. You don’t get to the...more

like · see review

May 17, 2007 Dartist rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: school teachers, history buffs

Shelves: americanstudiesmareadinglistbooks

This is an excellent history/analysis of English settlement in North America, from pre-Jamestown times up to American independence, which roughly coincided with the legal establishment of our race-based system of slavery. Morgan is not only a good writer, but he lays out a thorough and well-argued case for why the English colonists switched from indentured servitude to exclusively enslaving Africans and how this (and tobacco) is what allowed the Virginia colony to become economically independent...more

like · see review

Jun 14, 2010 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is now a little outdated as far as the history of Jamestown is concerned, but it inspired me to study the topic as my focus in graduate school. Great background on what led the English to desire a permanent settlement in the United States, and how Virginia is actually more typical of what America is today than those tiresome and singular pilgrims.

like · see review

Apr 28, 2013 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Follows the history of Virginia from the first attempt at colonization to the early 18th century. Documents how labor went from being indentured servants from the English lower classes to being African slaves. Explores how this transition affected many aspects of the social : relation between upper and lower class whites, racial attitudes, and even the views of freedom that a few years later drove the American Revolution. Of course it is important for the background leading up to the Civil War,...more

like · see review

Jul 03, 2010 Laura Kaye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This ranks as one of the non-fiction history books I wish I would've written. Truly foundational to the understanding of early American history, and relating the evolution of the two ends of the spectrum of freedom in a way that fully relates the uniqueness of the American experience.

like 1 like · see review

Jul 10, 2008 Michael Zell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Although not a new book, it is spot-on about the centrality of slavery to so-called 'American democracy'. Morgan concentrates on colonial Virginia, and shows how the use of slave labour by white farmers/plantation owners became established side by side with 'democratic' institutions in the 18th century. In a way, the cheap labour provided by African and African-American slaves made possible the democratic 'rights' and processes enjoyed by free, white Americans. The connection between slavery and...more

like · see review

Feb 21, 2012 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was one of the first book I read for my major and it was actually very well done. Definitely a very interesting history after being trapt reading mundane historical accounts during high school. Plus it was an easy read!

like · see review

Jan 18, 2012 Corey added it

Superb analysis. easy read. Coerced labor was well established long before slavery. Also, in days of old people did not work so much. 17th century farming involved much weather enforced leisure. We moderns are the dumb ones.

like · see review

Aug 09, 2010 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teachco_before1776, us-history, virginia

The majority of this book focuses on the first 75 years or so of English colonization in Virginia and the series of actions that led to an economy based on slave labor and, since the slaves were all black or native, to racial prejudice. By comparison, Morgan's discussion of how republican ideas caught hold seems rushed. Maybe I missed something. It was really late by the time I got to those final few chapters (300+ pages in...). All the ideas seemed to come from Britain. But Virginia/the US deve...more

like · see review

Dec 30, 2008 Mackenzie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent, insightful analysis of the origins and consequences of southern slavery - unique perspectives that transcends the trite analyses many historians can't seem to get away from.

like · see review

Sep 18, 2012 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars

In this book, Dr. Morgan persuasively argues that American slavery arose first in Virginia Out of primarily socio-economic aspects of life during and after tobacco booms in Virginia.

like · see review

Dec 28, 2012 Meen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Meen by: Karen Cox

Shelves: own-it, race-racism-colonial-imperial-ism, class-inequality-economics, history-is-not-a-social-science

This is one of the most meticulous and compelling histories I've ever read. I wanted to call it "masterful," but that would be a horrible pun for this subject matter.

I already knew this about white supremacy, racism, and class in our country, but I challenge anyone to read this book and still be able to argue with any intellectual integrity that white supremacy and racism (especially as they intertwine with class) are not embedded in the very cultural fiber of these United States.

"Discontent wit...more

like · see review

Oct 08, 2012 Amelia marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11413956

like · see review

Nov 09, 2012 Rusty rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book explains why slavery came to the American colonies and why it stayed so long. Many believed American freedom depended upon slavery.

like · see review

Sep 26, 2012 Kelz is currently reading it

It's been sitting on my book shelf for two years... gonna get through it, I promise.

like · see review

Feb 04, 2013 Sean Chick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At times this book seems to drone on and on and Morgan has a taste for the tangential. However, it makes for compelling reading. This a dark work of consensus history in which America’s racism and liberty are seen as both connected and long in the making. The darkness comes with Morgan’s assertion that freedom and slavery can exist together. This book represents a shift in American scholarship, away from sunny optimism and hopeful activism, and towards the idea that there is something inherently...more

like · see review

Jan 02, 2008 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: someone who wants to rethink history.

even though this was the 2nd time I've read this book (both times for a class!), I found it a lot more interesting the second time around! I'm not sure why, but I seemed to get more from it the 2nd time around. This book is an amazing in how it traces the development of the virginia colony and how freedom in Virginia (and the rest of the colonies) is inextricably linked to slavery. It really made me rethink my view of the founding of the southern colonies. For Virginia, it was about money- how t...more

like · see review

Jun 08, 2012 Amber rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a very good Colonial history book.

like · see review

Feb 05, 2013 Megan Mcgee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent exploration of the slavery/freedom paradox.

like · see review

Jul 09, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

slavery,American history

like · see review

Aug 01, 2011 Mike Horne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book. I think I got to page 200 without meeting a slave! Morgan really shows you the story of the indentured servant/free white landless worker. I was reading the AP Question about the origin and development of slavery (1607-1776). And it got me to thinking "What kind of alternative history could have developed a slave free American society by 1776?"

like · see review

Nov 05, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: afro-american

This uncovering of colonial Virginia is thorough beyond anything I could have conceived. I must say I stopped short on this book because it was just too much. If you are looking for a great explanation of the ingredients that cooked up slavery in this country, this book is priceless. But be ready for a slog through a detailed and extremely careful argument.

like · see review

title link	preview: American Slavery, American Freedom
avg rating	preview: American Slavery, American Freedom Goodreads rating: 4.10 (580 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43365.American_Slavery_American_Freedom?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361745595l/43365.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43365.American_Slavery_American_Freedom?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund Sears Morgan[/url]

American Slavery, American Freedom

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (5)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Edmund Sears Morgan

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About American Slavery,...

American Slavery, American Freedom

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (5)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Edmund Sears Morgan

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About American Slavery,...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (5)