Loading next page...
/lp/university-of-pennsylvania-press/the-market-revolution-in-america-liberty-ambition-and-the-eclipse-of-GVKoqq5Dl0
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © University of Pennsylvania Press
- ISSN
- 1553-0620
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
JOURNAL OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC (Fall 2011) Washington politicians had a significant interest in making laws about slavery through committee work, thus going against the traditional view that Congress was unwilling to touch the slavery question in open debate. They also demonstrated that while some settlers might have been ambivalent or indifferent on the issue, the act of political participation was sometimes enough to get citizens involved and galvanize popular opinion (147). Slavery, Freedom and Expansion is a particularly well-written and well-researched contribution to the field. The book refocuses the historiography and reminds us once again that all politics are local. By looking at the local debates, and Washington's reaction to them, it is clear that western interests had more power than previously understood. Hammond's book raises several interesting questions about how the slavery debates developed in each territory, and the responses that citizens had to the ways the debates were conducted. Questions about why certain arguments were used, and if some of those were more successful than others, also linger. In addition, Hammond offers a chapter about how ex-slaves were received in Ohio that gives us a tantalizing glimpse of how those people might have been viewed
Journal
Journal of the Early Republic – University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: Aug 11, 2011