The fortunate heirs of freedom : abolition & Republican thought / Daniel J. McInerney. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McInerney, Daniel John, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Antislavery movements--United States.

Antislavery movements.

Abolitionists--United States--Political activity.

Abolitionists.

Republicanism--United States--History--19th century.

Republicanism.

Abolitionists--Political activity--United States.

Antislavery movements--Political activity--19th century--United States.

Abolitionists--History--United States.

Republicanism--United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 232 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, c1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Across lines of race, gender, religion, and class, abolitionists understood their reform effort in the same basic terms -- as part of a continuous struggle between the forces of power and the forces of liberty in which vigilant citizens battled tyranny and corruption, defending the independence and virtue upon which their fragile experiment in republican government depended. Focusing on that republican frame of reference, this book sheds new light on the historical imagination of the abolitionists, their views of politics and the marketplace, the relation between religion and reform, and the cultural critique embedded in abolitionism. The author convincingly argues that the reformers conceived of their work in more precise terms than historians have generally recognized; their concern lay specifically with the problem of slavery in a republic: "Abolitionists did not see themselves as antebellum reformers; theirs was a post-Revolutionary movement."--Back cover.

Contents:

Introduction

The fine thread : the problem of Republican slavery

Republican memories : the abolitionists' sense of history

A faith for freedom : the political gospel of abolition

Power, passion, and personality : abolition and American politics

The costs of liberty : the abolitionist argument on political economy

Declarations of independence : the language of liberty and the identity of the republic

Conclusion : the Republican edge

Bibliographic essay.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-585-26645-X