The American Debate over Slavery, 1760–1865

"The American Debate over Slavery, 1760–1865 will be a superb resource for teachers and students of early American history. Editors Lubert, Hardwick, and Hammond have carefully assembled and introduced a rich collection of significant documents that bring the slavery debate into sharp and illuminating focus. This is easily the best book in its field." —Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello)

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An Anthology of Sources

Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Howard L. Lubert, Kevin R. Hardwick, and Scott J. Hammond

November 2016 - 328 pp.

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"The American Debate over Slavery, 1760–1865 will be a superb resource for teachers and students of early American history. Editors Lubert, Hardwick, and Hammond have carefully assembled and introduced a rich collection of significant documents that bring the slavery debate into sharp and illuminating focus. This is easily the best book in its field."
      —Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello)

 

About the Authors: 

Scott J. Hammond and Howard L. Lubert are Professors of Political Science, James Madison University. Kevin R. Hardwick is Associate Professor of History, James Madison University.

 


 

Contents:

Dedication and Acknowledgements

General Introduction

 

Chapter One: 1762-1786

Introduction

1. Anthony Benezet, A Short Account of That Part of Africa Inhabited by the Negroes (1762)

2. Patrick Henry, Letter to Robert Pleasants (January 18, 1773)

3. Benjamin Rush, An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America on the Slavery of the Negroes in America (1773)

4. Richard Nisbet, Slavery Not Forbidden by Scripture, Or a Defense of the West Indian Planter (1773)

5. Committee of the Continental Congress on the Articles of Confederation (July 12, 1776)

6. Alexander Hamilton, Letter to John Jay (March 14, 1779)

7. Chief Justice William Cushing, Notes on Quok Walker v. Nathaniel Jennison (1783)

8. Methodist Petition to Abolish Slavery in Virginia (November 1785)

9. Amelia County Pro-Slavery Petition (November 10, 1785)

10. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (completed by 1785; final and revised publication in 1787)

11. George Washington, Letter to Robert Morris (April 12, 1786)

 

Chapter 2: 1787-1817

Introduction

1. Philadelphia Constitutional Convention Debates, as recorded by James Madison (1787)

2. James Wilson, Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention ( December 3, 1787)

3. South Carolina House of Representatives, Debate over the Calling of a State Ratifying Convention (January 17, 1788)

4. Debates in the U.S. Congress: House of Representatives (May 13, 1789)

5. Debates in the U.S. Congress: House of Representatives (February 11 – March 17, 1790)

6. Absalom Jones, Petition to the U.S. Congress (1799)

7. Debates in the U.S. Congress: House of Representatives, in Response to a Petition from Absalom Jones, et al. (January 2-3, 1800)

8. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Rufus King, U.S. Minister to Great Britain (July 13, 1802)

9. James Forten, Letters from a Man of Colour, on a Late Bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania (1813)

10. John Taylor, Arator (1814)

11. James Forten and Russell Parrott, An Address to the Humane and Benevolent Inhabitants of the City and County of Philadelphia (1817)

 

Chapter 3: 1818-1830

Introduction

1. Rufus King, Two Speeches on the Missouri Bill, Delivered before the U.S. Senate (1819)

2. Debates in the U.S. Congress: House of Representatives (February 15, 1819)

3. Debates in the U.S. Congress: House of Representatives (February 16, 1819)

4. James Madison, Letter to Robert J. Evans (June 15, 1819)

5. Robert Walsh, Jr., Free Remarks on the Spirit of the Federal Constitution (1819)

6. James Madison, Letter to Robert Walsh, Jr. (November 27, 1819)

7. Debates in the U.S. Congress: Senate (January 20 – February 1, 1820)

8. Joshua Cushman, Address before the U.S. House of Representatives (February 14, 1820)

9. Charles Pinckney, Address before the U.S. House of Representatives (February 14, 1820)

10. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Holmes (April 22, 1820)

11. The Annual Report of the Auxiliary Society of Frederick County Virginia for Colonizing the Free People of Color in the United States (November 4, 1820)

12. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, Exposition of The Views of the Baptists, Relative To the Coloured Population in the United States (December 24, 1822)

13. Bishop Richard Allen, Letter To the Editor of the “Freedom’s Journal” (November 2, 1827)

14. The State [of North Carolina] v. John Mann (1829)

15. David Walker, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1830)

 

Chapter 4: 1831-1845 Introduction

Introduction

1. Thomas R. Dew, A Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832

2. Elizur Wright, Jr., The Sin of Slavery and its Remedy (1833)

3. Leonard Bacon, "The Abolition of Slavery," in Slavery Discussed in Occasional Essays, from 1833 to 1846 (first published in the Quarterly Christian Spectator, 1833)

4. Richard H. Colfax, Evidence against the Views of the Abolitionists, Consisting of Physical and Moral Proofs, of the Natural Inferiority of the Negroes (1833)

5. Elijah Lovejoy, To My Fellow Citizens, St. Louis Observer (November 5, 1835)

6. Gerrit Smith, Address to the New York Anti-Slavery Society, Peterboro (October 22, 1835; reprinted in The Liberator, November 14, 1835)

7. George McDuffie, The Natural Slavery of the Negro (1835)

8. Angelina E. Grimké, Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836)

9. Theodore S. Wright, Speech of October 20, 1836, to the Meeting of the NY State Anti-Slavery Society Convention (printed in Friend of Man, October 27, 1836)

10. James Henry Hammond, Address before the U.S. House of Representatives (Feb. 1, 1837)

11. Debates in the U.S. Congress: Senate (February 6, 1837)

12. Catherine E. Beecher, An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, Addressed to Miss A. D. Grimké (1837)

13. Alvan Stewart, A Constitutional Argument, on the subject of Slavery (published in Friend of Man, October 18, 1837)

14. Theodore Dwight Weld, The Power of Congress over Slavery in the District of Columbia (1838)

15. Henry Clay, Address Before the Senate on Petitions for the Abolition of Slavery (February 7, 1839)

16. Theodore Dwight Weld, Slavery As It Is: The Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839)

17. John Quincy Adams, Address at Weymouth (1842)

18. James Freeman Clarke, Thanksgiving Day Sermon (November 24, 1842)

19. Henry Highland Garnett, “Address to the Slaves of the United States of America,” Speech delivered to the National Convention of Colored Citizens (August 16, 1843; published in 1848)

20. Charles Hodge, "The Integrity of our National Union vs. Abolitionism," The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review (1844)

21. Wendell Phillips, The Constitution, a Pro-Slavery Compact (1845)

 

Chapter 5: 1847-1853

Introduction

1. Lewis Cass, Letter to A. P. O. Nicholson (December 24 1847)

2. Frederick Douglass, To Henry Clay (The North Star, December 3, 1847)

3. John C. Calhoun, Speech in the U.S. Senate on the Oregon Bill (June 27, 1848)

4. John C. Calhoun, The Address of Southern Delegates in Congress, to their Constituents (January 22, 1849)

5. Frederick Douglass, Comments on Gerrit Smith’s Address (The North Star, March 30, 1849)

6. George Fitzhugh, Slavery Justified (1849; reprinted as an appendix in his Sociology for the South, or the Failure of Free Society, 1854)

7. Horace Mann, Speech in the U.S. House (February 15, 1850)

8. William H. Seward, Speech in the U.S. Senate (March 11, 1850)

9. Rev. J. H. Thornwell, The rights and the duties of masters: a sermon preached at the dedication of a church, erected in Charleston, S.C., for the benefit and instruction of the coloured population (May 26, 1850)

10. Resolutions of the Second Nashville Convention (November 1850)

11. Frederick Douglass, The U.S. Constitution (reprinted in The Liberator, May 23, 1851)

12. Samuel A. Cartwright, Report on the Diseases of and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race, The New-Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, Devoted to Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, Volume VII (May 1851; reprinted in De Bow's Review
of the Southern and Western States, Volume XI [1851])

13. Martin R. Delany, The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (1852)

 

Chapter 6: 1854-1865

Introduction

1. William Lloyd Garrison, Address before the Anti-Slavery Society, New York City (February 14, 1854)

2. Frederick Douglass, Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered, Western Reserve College (July 12, 1854)

3. Abraham Lincoln, Address at Peoria, Illinois (October 16, 1854)

4. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

5. James Henry Hammond, Speech to the United States Senate (March 4, 1858)

6. Abraham Lincoln & Stephen Douglas, Debate at Galesburg, Illinois (7 October 1858)

7. John A. Bingham, Speech to the U. S. House of Representatives (February 11, 1859)

8. Abraham Lincoln, Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society at Milwaukee (September 30, 1859)

9. Alexander Stephens, Speech to the Virginia Secession Convention (April 23, 1861)

10. Abraham Lincoln, Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg (November 19, 1863)

11. Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865)

 

Select Bibliography

Index