Berkowitz
American History 2008-09
Questions for Unit 2 Reading/Assignment 7—Edmund Morgan, “Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox”
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When was Morgan’s essay written? What was happening historiographically at the time? What was happening in
America at the time? How did these exigencies affect Morgan’s approach and analysis.
How does Morgan propose addressing the challenge presented by the new historiography? What in fact is the
challenge or paradox that Morgan focuses on.
What are a few of the examples of the paradox provided by Morgan in the early pages of the essay?
For Jefferson, where does freedom spring from?
What two “phobias”, according to Morgan, cropped up in Jefferson’s writings from time to time? How did these
phobias express his understanding of what it meant to be an “independent” man?
What was Madison’s attitude toward the idle poor?
How did Jefferson’s view of the idle poor affect his view of whether it made sense to emancipate the slaves?
To what extent does Morgan believe that racial prejudice played a central role in the founding father’s attitude toward
slavery?
Where does Morgan believe the story of how slavery became entrenched “properly begins?”
Who was Richard Hakluyt? What was the purpose of the pamphlet he wrote?
What was lost in the Roanoke experiment?
What was Virginia like for the first English immigrants?
What was the status of blacks in early 17th century Virginia? What does the example of Anthony Johnson (from the
other short essay) indicate about the status of blacks and the relationship between blacks and whites in Virgina?
What was the demographic situation the first several decades in Virginia?
What happened after the population began to rise after 1640? What impact did this demographic change have on
Virginia society and economy?
What problem did appear to Virginia inherit from England? Why was it potentially an even more explosive problem
in Virginia?
What were the origins of Bacon’s Rebellion? How, according to Morgan, did it reflect the social and economic
problems of the colony?
Why was Bacon’s Rebellion a “shattering experience” for Virginia’s elite?
How in the immediate aftermath of Bacon’s Rebellion did the elite deal with the social/economic problems that had
led to it? Why did their strategy prove unsuccessful?
What solution did the elites finally turn to?
Thus, in essence, what was African slavery a solution to?
Why does Morgan write: “…the social benefits of an enslaved labor force…were large than the economic benefits?”
(p. 25).
Why weren’t poor whites enslaved?
How was the new labor system legitimated and solidified?
Why did Virginians have less to fear from African slaves than from restive freedman?
Why did whites of lower economic status benefit from this situation?
How did the political situation change for yeoman farmers during the 18 th century? Why were the elites accepting of
the yeoman’s role?
Do you agree with Morgan’s argument that: “It was slavery…more than any other single factor, that made the
difference, slavery that enabled Virginia to nourish representative government in a plantation society, slavery that
transformed the Virginia of Governor Berkeley to the Virginia of Jefferson, slavery that made the Virginians dare to
speak a political language that magnified the rights of freemen, and slavery…that brought Virginians into the same
commonwealth political tradition with New Englanders.
What are the strengths and limits of Morgan’s interpretation?
What role does racism play in Morgan’s analysis?