"Negro president" : Jefferson and the slave power / Garry Wills.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wills, Garry, 1934-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826.

Jefferson, Thomas.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826--Relations with African Americans.

Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829--Political and social views.

Pickering, Timothy.

Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829.

Presidents--United States--Biography.

Presidents.

Slavery--Political aspects.

History.

Slavery.

Political and social views.

Relations with African Americans.

United States.

Slavery--Political aspects--United States--History.

United States--Politics and government--1783-1809.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 274 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

Summary:

In "Negro President," the best-selling historian Garry Wills explores a controversial and neglected aspect of Thomas Jefferson's presidency: it was achieved by virtue of slave "representation" and conducted to preserve that advantage. Wills goes far beyond the recent revisionist debate over Jefferson's own slaves and his relationship with Sally Hemings to look at the political relationship between the president and slavery. Jefferson won the election of 1800 with Electoral College votes derived from the three-fifths representation of slaves, who could not vote but who were partially counted as citizens. That count was the basis of "the slave power" granted to southern states, and it made some Federalists call Jefferson the Negro President -- one elected because of the slave count's margin. Probing the heart of Jefferson's presidency, Wills reveals how the might of the slave states was a concern behind Jefferson's most important decisions and policies, including his strategy to expand the nation west. But the president met with resistance: Timothy Pickering, now largely forgotten, was elected to Congress to wage a fight against Jefferson and the institutions that supported him. Wills restores Pickering and his allies' dramatic struggle to our understanding of Jefferson and the creation of the new nation. In "Negro President," Wills offers a bold rethinking of one of American history's greatest icons.

Contents:

Introduction: The Three-Fifths Clause 1

I. Before 1800 15

1. Pickering vs. Jefferson: The Northwest 18

2. Pickering vs. Jefferson: Toussaint 33

II. "Second Revolution" 47

3. 1800: Why Were Slaves Counted? 50

4. 1800: The Negro-Burr Election 62

5. 1801: Jefferson or Burr? 73

6. 1801 Aftermath: Turning Out the Federalists 90

III. Pickering in Congress 103

7. 1803: The Twelfth Amendment 106

8. 1803: Louisiana 114

9. 1804: Pickering and Burr 127

10. 1804-1805: Impeachments 140

11. 1808: Embargo 147

12. 1808: Pickering and Governor Sullivan 159

13. 1808: Pickering and J. Q. Adams 171

14. 1809-1815: Pickering and Madison 182

IV. The Pickering Legacy 195

15. J. Q. Adams: The Federal (Slave) District 200

16. J. Q. Adams: Petition Battles 214

Epilogue: Farewell to Pickering 226.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [233]-258) and index.

Local Notes:

Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Sheldon Hackney.

Storage copy inscribed to Lucy and Sheldon Hackney by the author.

ISBN:

0618343989

OCLC:

52902750