Slavery
A classic “uncoverage” and
historiography overview
What is Historiography?
• What is Historiography?
• How can we use it in the classroom to
enhance our instruction?
• What are some ways to make readings
more accessible given our time
constraints?
Historiography Defined
• Conal Furay and Michael J. Salevouris
define "historiography" as "the study of the
way history has been and is written--the
history of historical writing... When you
study 'historiography' you do not study the
events of the past directly, but the
changing interpretations of those events in
the works of individual historians." (The
Methods and Skills of History: A Practical
Guide, 1988, p. 223
Historiography at work: The Origins
of Slavery in the English Colonies
• Oscar Handlin and Mary Handlin, "Origins of the
Southern Labor System," William and Mary Quarterly 7
(1950), 199-222.
• Carl N. Degler, "Slavery and the Genesis of American
Race Prejudice," Comparative Studies in Society and
History 2 (1959), 49-56.
• Winthrop Jordan, White Over Black: American Attitudes
Toward the Negro, 1550-1812, chapter 2.
• Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom,
pp. 154-57 & ch.15.
• Russell Menard, "From Servants to Slaves: The
Transformation of the Chesapeake Labor System,"
Southern Studies 16 (1977)
"Did American freedom rest upon
American slavery?"
• “How is it that we hear
the loudest yelps for
liberty among the drivers
of negroes?” Samuel
Johnson, “Taxation Not
Tyranny,” in The Yale
Edition of the Works of
Samuel Johnson (1775;
New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1977),
10:454.
Paradox Defined
• How could the founding
fathers who envisioned a
nation where “all men
are created equal” also
hold other human beings
in bondage and preserve
the concept of slavery?
This is a question that
has plagued historians
for decades.
What made the founding fathers
experts on Liberty?
• The great paradox of the
Revolution is slavery, and
the men we call the
Founding Fathers knew it.
They talked and wrote
about it, justified its
survival under the
Constitution, and
northerners among them
urged its eradication,
someday.
The Paradox of American
Slavery
• As Lawrence Goldstone
provocatively makes clear
in Dark Bargain, “to a
significant and disquieting
degree, America’s most
sacred document was
molded and shaped by the
most notorious institution in
its history.”
The Paradox of American
Slavery
• Some like Benjamin Franklin responded.
He became president of the Pennsylvania
Society for Promoting the Abolition of
Slavery and the Relief of Free Negros
Unlawfully Held in Bondage.
Washington, in the meanwhile provided in
his will for the liberation of his slaves
after Martha’s death. Interestingly John
Adams, who never owned slaves,
acknowledged in a letter to two Quaker
abolitionists his fear that demonstrations
in support of emancipation might result in
violence. At various times each expressed
support for colonization.
The Paradox of American
Slavery
• And again to Jefferson,
who writes in 1809 that he
has come to believe that
black Africans "are on a par
with ourselves" and that
this awareness among
citizens will hasten "the day
of their relief." Someday.
How one judges these men
is problematic; they have
been lauded and
condemned for the ideals
they expressed in the
Declaration and the failure
of the society to live up to
those ideals.
Imperfect gods?
• “When he died in 1799 his will
called for his manservant William
Lee to be freed immediately, and
given a pension. The other slaves
were to be freed when his widow
died. Martha chose to free
them two years later.
According to Abigail Adams this
was because she feared her life
might be in danger, since her
death meant freedom for the
slaves.” (Hirschfield, p 214)
Neither Washington nor his wife
could legally free the dower slaves
which still belonged to the Custis
estate.
Dark Bargain created a fatal
defect
• But in failing to
address the issue of
slavery fully in the
hopes of securing a
new Constitution, the
founders allowed a
deadly infection to
continue to breed that
would eventually
result in the Civil War.
Making Historiography work
• Adjusting your tool kit
to deal with a large
crime scene . . . What
you will need
• Some historiography
• A variety of primary
sources including
charts and graphs
• Images
• Some imagination
Showing your students the
sausage being made . . .
• What you will accomplish
• Showing your students
how narratives are
constructed and how
history (a patterned
coherent account of the
past based on available
evidence and intended to
be true) works.
Lack of Freedom not Unusual
Oscar Handlin and Mary
Handlin, "Origins of the
Southern Labor System,"
William and Mary Quarterly
7 (1950), 199-222
• Oscar and Mary
Handlin wrote their
influential article in
1950. What if any
can the time period in
which an article or
book is written tell us
about the
interpretation offered
by the historian?
Broad Historigaphical Trends
The Nationalists
Pre-progressives
Pre-1890
The Progressives
1890-1930
The NeoNationalists
1930-1950
The Consensus
School
1950-1960