The problem of slavery in the age of Revolution, 1770-1823 / David Brion Davis.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. What the abolitionists were up against : "The problem of slavery in western culture": the argument summarized ; Demographic and economic trends, 1770-1823 ; The shifting interests of slave-trade diplomacy ; War and emancipation -- 2. The seats of power, I : Prospects for reform ; Emancipation in non-slave societies ; Petitioning and representation -- 3. The seats of power, II : The testing of parliamentary supremacy ; Sanction and jurisdiction in the United States: "migration and importation" ; Gestation of the "negative pregnant" ; Jurisdiction in the French revolution: the formula for loss of control ; Expansion and constraint -- 4. The boundaries of idealism :The founding fathers and the debunkers ; Jefferson's uncertain commitment ; Philosophes pf the Caribbean ; The neutralization of antislavery in the south -- 5. The Quaker ethic and the antislavery international : The Quaker initiative ; The solvent of wealth ; William Allen and the limitations of Quaker philosophy ; A preliminary assessment: the symbolism of slave and free labor -- 6. The emancipation of America, I : The limits of revolutionary ideology ; Slavery as an obstacle to man's true destiny ; The penalty of being inconsistent -- 7. The emancipation of America, II : How Negroes could help emancipate white Americans ; Race and reality ; The perishability of revolutionary time ; Declension and justification -- 8. The preservation of English liberty, I : The English context compared with that of America and France ; Some political and ideological implications ; Antislavery as reinforcement of legitimate authority -- 9. The preservation of English liberty, II : Slavery as the prime symbol of corruption ; Benevolence as the redemption of politics ; The slave system as a mirror for English society -- 10. Antislavery and the conflict of laws : Property versus legal personality ; Personal dominion versus service ; Contract and consent: toward a free labor ideology ; Conflicting jurisdictions -- 11. The good book : The perversion of Scripture: the Bible's bondage to slavery ; Apologetics and latitudinarian drift ; Initial slaves ; Jesuit intrigue ; Come sound the jubilee!

American Historical Association Albert A. Beveridge Award, 1975.

Bancroft Prize, 1976.

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