Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase - Rilegato

Kennedy, Roger G.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0195153472 ISBN 13: 9780195153477

Casa editrice: Oxford Univ Pr, 2003

Riassunto

Thomas Jefferson advocated a republic of small farmers--free and independent yeomen. And yet as president he presided over a massive expansion of the slaveholding plantation system--particularly with the Louisiana Purchase--squeezing the yeomanry to the fringes and to less desirable farmland. Now Roger Kennedy conducts an eye-opening examination of that gap between Jefferson's stated aspirations and what actually happened. Kennedy reveals how the Louisiana Purchase had a major impact on land use and the growth of slavery. He examines the great financial interests (such as the powerful land companies that speculated in new territories and the British textile interests) that beat down slavery's many opponents in the South itself (Native Americans, African Americans, Appalachian farmers, and conscientious opponents of slavery). He describes how slaveholders' cash crops (first tobacco, then cotton) sickened the soil and how the planters moved from one desolated tract to the next. Soon the dominant culture of the entire region--from Maryland to Florida, from Carolina to Texas--was that of owners and slaves producing staple crops for international markets. The earth itself was impoverished, in many places beyond redemption. None of this, Kennedy argues, was inevitable. He focuses on the character, ideas, and ambitions of Thomas Jefferson to show how he and other Southerners struggled with the moral dilemmas presented by the presence of Indian farmers on land they coveted, by the enslavement of their workforce, by the betrayal of their stated hopes, and by the manifest damage being done to the earth itself. Jefferson emerges as a tragic figure in a tragic period.

Su questo libro

Recensione

... stimulating, powerful, exceedingly well-written, and engrossing. (The Journal of American History)

Fresh, endlessly fascinating, and altogether extraordinary ... A sweeping, continent-wide reinterpretation of early US history from Kennedy, who replaces individualist heroes such as Daniel Boone with economic movements, transcontinental forces, and unintended consequences ... Thematically rich and full of subtle arguments, Kennedy's study forces a reconsideration of accepted views. It couldn't come at a better time, given the soon-to-be widely commemorated bicentenary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. (Kirkus Reviews)

L'autore

Roger Kennedy is Director Emeritus of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and a past Director of the National Park Service. He has had a long and distinguished career in public service during which he has served six presidents. His books include Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson and (as general editor and contributor) the twelve-volumeSmithsonian Guide to Historic America.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Oxford Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0195153472
• ISBN 13: 9780195153477
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 320