Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-06, Section: A, page: 1668.

Director: David Brion Davis.

This dissertation investigates the impact of slavery on America's self-understanding as a beacon of freedom and equality. While it is true, as historians have long noted, that the Civil War was not fought explicitly or exclusively over the issue of slavery, two earlier battles were: the Missouri controversy of 1819-1821, and the explosion of abolitionism and the subsequent anti-abolitionist backlash of the early 1830s. Between these two episodes, my dissertation demonstrates, the slavery issue did not subside, as historians have generally believed, but rather continued to seethe throughout the period, decisively shaping the course of federal policy, of electoral politics, and, I will argue, of American national character.

Chapters 1 through 3 examine the impact of the Revolution in catalyzing Anglo-American antipathy to slavery, reviews traditional attitudes toward Africa, and describes the potent antislavery conjunction of British moral philosophy and early nineteenth-century evangelicalism. Chapters 4 through 6 present a detailed reexamination of the Missouri controversy and its ambiguous political and constitutional legacy, illustrating the enduring roots of Northern antislavery radicalism and the Southern sectional response. Chapters 7 through 10 trace the growing rift between nationalism and slavery in the 1820s and describes the efforts of Jacksonian unionism to reconcile the two. It then discusses the explosive growth of antislavery sentiment in the 1830s against the background of domestic politics and British emancipation, analyzes the surging anti-abolitionist reaction, and considers the consequences of this struggle.