Fall 2005 PDF - Milton Academy

Alumni AuthorsRecently published worksSlave CountryAdam Rothman ‘89“Why did slavery expand in theearly national United States?”Adam Rothman ‘89 begins histightly argued Slave Country withthat deceptively simple question.Adam contends that slavery didnot merely linger after 1776 as aregrettable national embarrassment.Rather, the institutionflourished in unanticipatedways, as the slave populationmore than tripled in the 50 yearsafter independence. Adam focuseson the Deep South, where thegrowth and evolution of slaverymay have been most pronounced.In 1790, Americans,Europeans and NativeAmericans still struggled forcontrol over the region, but by1820, Louisiana, Mississippi andAlabama had each entered theUnion. Those three states producedone-quarter of the nation’scotton crop in 1820. By then,Adam argues, the region hademerged as “the leading edge ofa dynamic, expansive slaveregime incorporated politicallyinto the United States and firmlytied to the transatlantic systemof commodity exchange.” On theeve of the Civil War, of course,over 60 percent of the nation’scotton came from those threestates and close to one-third ofthe nation’s slaves lived there.The expansion of slavery in theDeep South had already shapedthe nation’s destiny.Rejecting the notion that there isone simple explanation for suchrapid and important change,Adam instead argues that “contingentglobal forces, concretepolicies pursued by governments,and countless smallchoices made by thousands ofindividuals” shaped slavery’sexpansion and evolution. Adammakes his case in clear, cleanlanguage, deftly synthesizingwhat at first appear to be widelydisparate types of evidence.For example, he shows that theevolution of international cottonand sugar markets both encouragedthe explosion of cotton productionin the Deep South andsustained the great wealth ofLouisiana’s sugar planters. Aspowerful as those market forceswere, however, Adam does notcast Americans, black or white,as helpless, nameless victims ofimpersonal economic forces. Infact, in the central chapter of thebook, Adam explores the complicatedrelationship betweensouthern leaders during the Warof 1812 and the institution thatso many of them sought to preserve.The story seems straightforwardat first. AndrewJackson’s defeat of the Red Stickmovement in the Creek War ledto the cession of 23 million acresof the Creeks’ land. Many whiteAmericans soon flocked to thatand other territory once controlledby Native Americans, andmany of those white Americanscompelled their slaves to jointhem. Jackson’s subsequent victoryover the British in NewOrleans further consolidatedAmerican control of the region.European and Native Americanfoes proved to be no matchfor the expansion of Americanslavery.Yet as Adam points out, the storyof the War of 1812 is not so simple.In the eyes of at least someAmericans, the war that ultimatelyadvanced the interests ofslaveholders seemed to put thevery institution at risk. SomeAmerican slaveholders believedthat the British would foment aslave rebellion, and in NewOrleans slaveholders stepped uppatrols to squelch any incipientinsurrection. Yet when theBritish threat became real, politicaland military leaders ultimatelycame to rely on the labor ofAfrican Americans. New Orleansorganized a militia of free menof color (commanded by whites,of course), a militia that servedenthusiastically in the war. Theplanters around New Orleansalso allowed the city to use theirslaves to build the military fortifications.Slaves, each a possiblerebel, each a possible British ally,ultimately proved essential indefending the growing institutionof slavery, the very source oftheir oppression.Andrew Jackson figures prominentlyin the later chapters, butit is Thomas Jefferson as visionaryand as president to whomAdam returns time and again.Jefferson’s dreams of the West,his purchase of Louisiana, andhis writings on slavery makehim a critical figure, and congressionalchoices about theslave trade, land sales, tariff policy,and the admission of newstates put national policy at theheart of Adam’s story. Still,Adam includes the stories of theless famous. Ethan Allen’sgrandson, it turns out, soughtwarmer climes, migrating fromVermont to Alabama. He initiallyinsisted that slavery was notnecessary for financial success.58 Milton Magazine