| Description |
xiv, 256 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-248) and index. |
| Contents |
Slavery at Mount Vernon. Building an estate -- Gone to war -- Washington as slave manager -- Through the eyes of foreign visitors -- Mistress of the mansion -- Slave vignettes -- The sunset years -- Personalities. Phillis Wheatley -- Billy Lee -- Oney Judge -- The Marquis de Lafayette -- John Laurens -- The Revolutionary War. African American recruits -- Combat veterans -- The commander in chief -- The new nation. The Constitutional Convention -- Presidential politics -- The abolitionists -- Finale. Last will and testament -- In retrospect. |
| Summary |
No history of racism in America can be considered complete without taking into account the role that George Washington - the principal founding father - played in helping to mold the racist cast of the new nation. Because General Washington - the universally acknowledged hero of the Revolutionary War - in the postwar period uniquely combined the moral authority, personal prestige, and political power to influence significantly the course and the outcome of the slavery debate, his opinions on the subject of slaves and slavery are of crucial importance to understanding how racism succeeded in becoming an integral and official part of the national fabric during its formative stages. Relying primarily on Washington's own words - his correspondence, diaries, and other written records - supplemented by letters, comments, and eyewitness reports of family members, friends, employees, aides, correspondents, colleagues, and visitors to Mount Vernon, together with contemporary newspaper clippings and official documents pertaining to Washington's relationships with African Americans, Fritz Hirschfeld traces Washington's transition from a conventional slaveholder to a lukewarm abolitionist. |
| Subject |
Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Sources.
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Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Views on slavery -- Sources.
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Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Relations with African Americans -- Sources.
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Washington, George, 1732-1799. (OCoLC)fst00178100
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Slavery -- United States -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.
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Relations with African Americans. (OCoLC)fst01354226
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Slavery. (OCoLC)fst01120426
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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| Chronological Term |
1700-1799
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| Genre/Form |
History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
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Sources. (OCoLC)fst01423900
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| ISBN |
0826211356 (alk. paper) |
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9780826211354 (alk. paper) |
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