Racism and slavery in America -- The press and slave troubles in America -- Haiti in 1791, Gabriel Prosser's 1800 conspiracy, and the 1811 German coast slave revolt -- Denmark Vesey's 1822 conspiracy and Nat Turner's 1831 slave revolt -- Slavery, the press, and America's transformation, 1831-59 -- John Brown's "Greatest or principal object" -- From madman to martyr : John Brown's transformation in the northern antislavery press -- Media discourses about slavery -- Dealing with slavery's enemies -- A racial panic -- Maintaining slavery -- Slavery divides the nation -- Slavery's immorality and destruction of civil liberties -- Slavery destroys freedom of the press -- The press and slavery's legacy.