Synopses & Reviews
Offering a provocative new look at the politics of secession in antebellum Virginia, William Link places African Americans at the center of events and argues that their acts of defiance and rebellion had powerful political repercussions throughout the turbulent period leading up to the Civil War.
An upper South state with nearly half a million slaves--more than any other state in the nation--and some 50,000 free blacks, Virginia witnessed a uniquely volatile convergence of slave resistance and electoral politics in the 1850s. While masters struggled with slaves, disunionists sought to join a regionwide effort to secede and moderates sought to protect slavery but remain in the Union. Arguing for a definition of political action that extends beyond the electoral sphere, Link shows that the coming of the Civil War was directly connected to Virginia's system of slavery, as the tension between defiant slaves and anxious slaveholders energized Virginia politics and spurred on the impending sectional crisis.
Review
By linking slave behavior with the mounting sectional crisis in Virginia during the 1850s, William Link has opened up a fascinating new approach to studying the politics of the commonwealth in the years leading up to secession.
(Charles B. Dew, Williams College)
Review
"Link's analysis is clear and thought-provoking. . . . A compelling argument that does, indeed, place slaves at the center of political sectionalism. . . . Deepens and complicates our notion of political culture and the roots of secession. "
Civil War History
Synopsis
Link explores the politics of secession in Virginia, placing slaves and free blacks at the center of his story and arguing that their acts of resistance and rebellion had real political repercussions in the years before the Civil War.
Table of Contents
Illustrations and Maps
Tables
Preface
Introduction
Prologue. To Make Ourselves Slaves, That You May Defend Yours: Slavery and Constitutional Reform
1. A Slave Society: Virginia in the 1850s
2. Boastful and Belligerent Champions of Southern Institutions: Slavery and Politics, 1851-1854
3. A Uniform Spirit of Lawlessness: The Problem of Runaways
4. A Spirit of License in the Guise of Liberty: The Survival of Opposition, 1854-1856
5. The Darkest and Most Perilous Hours of Our National Existence: The Deepening Sectional Crisis, 1856-1859
6. A Black Demon of Fanaticism: Harpers Ferry and the Election of 1860
7. To Light the Torch of Servile Insurrection: The Secession Crisis
Epilogue. The Rending of Virginia
Notes
Bibliography
Index