Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution

Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution PDF Author: Timothy Messer-Kruse
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807183156
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution unearths a long-hidden factor that led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. While historians have generally acknowledged that patriot leaders assembled in response to postwar economic chaos, the threat of popular insurgencies, and the inability of the states to agree on how to fund the national government, Timothy Messer-Kruse suggests that scholars have discounted Americans’ desire to compel Britain to return fugitives from slavery as a driving force behind the convention. During the Revolutionary War, British governors offered freedom to enslaved Americans who joined the king’s army. Thousands responded by fleeing to English camps. After the British defeat at Yorktown, American diplomats demanded the surrender of fugitive slaves. When British generals refused, several states confiscated Loyalist estates and blocked payment of English creditors, hoping to apply enough pressure on the Crown to hand over the runaways. State laws conflicting with the 1783 Treaty of Paris violated the Articles of Confederation—the young nation’s first constitution—but Congress, lacking an executive branch or a federal judiciary, had no means to obligate states to comply. The standoff over the escaped slaves quickly escalated following the Revolution as Britain failed to abandon the western forts it occupied and took steps to curtail American commerce. More than any other single matter, the impasse over the return of enslaved Americans threatened to hamper the nation’s ability to expand westward, develop its commercial economy, and establish itself as a power among the courts of Europe. Messer-Kruse argues that the issue encouraged the founders to consider the prospect of scrapping the Articles of Confederation and drafting a superseding document that would dramatically increase federal authority—the Constitution.

Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution

Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution PDF Author: Timothy Messer-Kruse
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807183156
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution unearths a long-hidden factor that led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. While historians have generally acknowledged that patriot leaders assembled in response to postwar economic chaos, the threat of popular insurgencies, and the inability of the states to agree on how to fund the national government, Timothy Messer-Kruse suggests that scholars have discounted Americans’ desire to compel Britain to return fugitives from slavery as a driving force behind the convention. During the Revolutionary War, British governors offered freedom to enslaved Americans who joined the king’s army. Thousands responded by fleeing to English camps. After the British defeat at Yorktown, American diplomats demanded the surrender of fugitive slaves. When British generals refused, several states confiscated Loyalist estates and blocked payment of English creditors, hoping to apply enough pressure on the Crown to hand over the runaways. State laws conflicting with the 1783 Treaty of Paris violated the Articles of Confederation—the young nation’s first constitution—but Congress, lacking an executive branch or a federal judiciary, had no means to obligate states to comply. The standoff over the escaped slaves quickly escalated following the Revolution as Britain failed to abandon the western forts it occupied and took steps to curtail American commerce. More than any other single matter, the impasse over the return of enslaved Americans threatened to hamper the nation’s ability to expand westward, develop its commercial economy, and establish itself as a power among the courts of Europe. Messer-Kruse argues that the issue encouraged the founders to consider the prospect of scrapping the Articles of Confederation and drafting a superseding document that would dramatically increase federal authority—the Constitution.

The Most Disreputable Trade

The Most Disreputable Trade PDF Author: Thomas F. Bonnell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199532206
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
This fascinating book probes the origins of mass-market series of literary 'classics'. Highly informative about the book trade in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Bonnell's study is also rich in details about book illustration, copyright law, canon formation, consumer culture, and the history of reading.

A list of the officers of his majesty's Marine forces, preceded by An alphabetical list

A list of the officers of his majesty's Marine forces, preceded by An alphabetical list PDF Author: Admiralty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description


The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Volume V

The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Volume V PDF Author: Samuel Johnson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400851564
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
With these two volumes Princeton University Press concludes the first scholarly edition of the letters of Samuel Johnson to appear in forty years. Volume IV chronicles the last three years of Johnson's life, an epistolary endgame that includes the breakup of the friendship with Hester Thrale and a poignant reaching out to new friends and new experiences. Volume V includes not only the comprehensive index but those undated letters that cannot confidently be assigned to a specific year, "ghost" letters (those whose existence is documented in other sources), three letters that have recently been recovered, and translations of Johnson's letters in Latin. Bruce Redford is Professor of English at the University of Chicago and the author of The Converse of the Pen: Acts of Intimacy in the Eighteenth-Century Familiar Letter (Chicago). Originally published in 1994. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Murder in the Shenandoah

Murder in the Shenandoah PDF Author: Jessica K. Lowe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108421784
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Tells the story of a sensational 1791 Virginia murder case, and explores Revolutionary America's debates over justice, criminal punishment, and equality before the law.

The Founding Father's Papers

The Founding Father's Papers PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description


The People’s Constitution

The People’s Constitution PDF Author: John F. Kowal
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620975629
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 493

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Book Description
The 233-year story of how the American people have taken an imperfect constitution—the product of compromises and an artifact of its time—and made it more democratic Who wrote the Constitution? That’s obvious, we think: fifty-five men in Philadelphia in 1787. But much of the Constitution was actually written later, in a series of twenty-seven amendments enacted over the course of two centuries. The real history of the Constitution is the astonishing story of how subsequent generations have reshaped our founding document amid some of the most colorful, contested, and controversial battles in American political life. It’s a story of how We the People have improved our government’s structure and expanded the scope of our democracy during eras of transformational social change. The People’s Constitution is an elegant, sobering, and masterly account of the evolution of American democracy. From the addition of the Bill of Rights, a promise made to save the Constitution from near certain defeat, to the post–Civil War battle over the Fourteenth Amendment, from the rise and fall of the “noble experiment” of Prohibition to the defeat and resurgence of an Equal Rights Amendment a century in the making, The People’s Constitution is the first book of its kind: a vital guide to America’s national charter, and an alternative history of the continuing struggle to realize the Framers’ promise of a more perfect union.

Shield of David

Shield of David PDF Author: Chaim M. Rosenberg
Publisher: Wicked Son
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
Jews first arrived in the New World in 1654, seeking religious freedom. Since the beginning of American nationhood, Jewish volunteers and conscripts fought in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, on both sides of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, in both World Wars, and in the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Over the years, the American military learned to integrate its Jewish servicemen and women by providing Jewish military chaplains, kosher food, religious services, and placing the Star of David on the graves of fallen Jewish soldiers. The end of conscription and the establishment of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973 offered other paths to serve our country. American Jews have contributed with distinction in the arts and sciences, academia, entertainment, government, and in building the economy. For Jews, America is the Goldene Medina—the Golden Country.

A List of the Officers of His Majesty's Royal Marine Forces

A List of the Officers of His Majesty's Royal Marine Forces PDF Author: Great Britain. Admiralty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain. Royal Marine Forces
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description


Domestic Enemies

Domestic Enemies PDF Author: Daniel Greenfield
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1637584482
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
The secret history of the American Left. The Left is America’s oldest enemy. It was here long before the 1960s, calling for the execution of George Washington, plotting to stop the ratification of the Constitution, and collaborating with foreign enemies. Stolen elections, fake news, race riots, globalism, and socialism aren’t new problems; Americans faced them from the very beginning. Domestic Enemies reveals the true origins of the Democratic Party and its radicals, who—even two centuries ago—were calling for the redistribution of wealth, the end of marriage, and the use of schools for political indoctrination. From political battles to street fights, Domestic Enemies takes you into the heart of a century of forgotten struggles between America’s greatest heroes—such as Washington, Hamilton, Davy Crockett, and Abraham Lincoln—and radical villains like Aaron Burr. This is a 1619 Project for the American Left: a history of the Democrats as you’ve never heard it before, told through the political debates, naval battles, race riots, scandals, secret societies, and domestic terrorism that made the Left what it is today. Learn how the Founding Fathers defeated the Left before, and how we can beat it again.