Few images of early America were more striking; and jarring; than that of slaves in the capital city of the world’s most important free republic. Black slaves served and sustained the legislators; bureaucrats; jurists; cabinet officials; military leaders; and even the presidents who lived and worked there. While slaves quietly kept the nation’s capital running smoothly; lawmakers debated the place of slavery in the nation; the status of slavery in the territories newly acquired from Mexico; and even the legality of the slave trade in itself.In the Shadow of Freedom; with essays by some of the most distinguished historians in the nation; explores the twin issues of how slavery made life possible in the District and how lawmakers in the District regulated slavery in the nation.
#3297172 in Books University of Georgia Press 2009-07-01 2009-07-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .28 x 6.00l; .40 #File Name: 082033457X116 pages
Review
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Interesting part of historyBy Helen O'DonoghueHave not finished reading it yet - I dip in and out but it is so interesting. It arrived in a timely manner and is in great condition.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. The Slave Ship WandererBy william sealeTom Henderson Wells's saga of the elegant sailing yacht Wanderer; member of the New York Yacht Club and its clandestine missions in the late 1850s to transport human chattel to the United States is a thrilling narrative; based upon solid fact. On the heels of Bleeding Kansas; the shocking apprehension of the Wanderer; breaking half a century later the 1808 ban on the importation of slaves into the United States came at a time when relations between North and South were raw nerves. The Wanderer's northern origins and apparently elegant role as a yacht belied her real work. Quite by accident she was apprehended on her way to the Georgia coast and the national scandal unfolded; burning through the newspapers all over the United States and; perhaps ironically; feeding the fires of sectional hate.
