The Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country, 1730-1865

by M. Scott Heerman

In this sweeping saga that spans empires, peoples, and nations, M. Scott Heerman chronicles the long history of slavery in the heart of the continent and traces its many iterations through law and social practice. Arguing that slavery had no fixed institutional form, Heerman traces practices of slavery through indigenous, French, and finally U.S. systems of captivity, inheritable slavery, lifelong indentureship, and the kidnapping of free people. By connecting the history of indigenous bondage to that of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world, Heerman shows how French, Spanish, and Native North American practices shaped the history of slavery in the United States.

The Alchemy of Slavery foregrounds the diverse and adaptable slaving practices that masters deployed to build a slave economy in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, attempting to outmaneuver their antislavery opponents. In time, a formidable cast of lawyers and antislavery activists set their sights on ending slavery in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull, Richard Yates, and many other future leaders of the Republican party partnered with African Americans to wage an extended campaign against slavery in the region. Across a century and a half, slavery's nearly perpetual reinvention takes center masters turning Indian captives into slaves, slaves into servants, former slaves into kidnapping victims; and enslaved people turning themselves into free men and women.

Genres: History

248 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2022

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This extremely well-researched and well-written book should be read by every person interested in African American history. Dr. Heerman has cogently and engagingly discussed the long and difficult road Illinois's African Americans travelled to emancipation. His use of documentary sources is a model for historians and other writers to follow. For anyone interest is Illinois history, black history, slavery and emancipation in a northern state, this is a MUST READ! I commend M. Scott Heerman for this great read. (less)

[Barbara Heerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't just for historians. My son is the author, and I am proud of him for his diligence and scholarship. Scott uses a lot of examples from the lives of specific slaves in the Illinois territory and the State of IL. This is not just the story of dead white slaveowners; it is also history from the "bottom-up" showing how individual blacks were affected and attempted to help themselves change IL to a free state.