Slavery and the Founders: Race, and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson - Book Report/Review Example

Critical Book Review: Slavery and the Founders, Race and Literty in the Age of Jefferson. The birth of the American constitution on the one hand and the establishment of slavery as an institution on the other, are both two key but contradictory elements in early American history. Historians like to present events and characters as if they belong in one or other of these two polar opposites: either defenders of freedom and justice or defenders of the iniquities of slavery. In fact, as this book by Paul Finkelman is at pains to reveal, the situation is considerably more complex than that, and the constitution is inextricably bound up in the ideology of slavery. This is perhaps the main message of the book, but there are many interesting other avenues that the author explores while laying out his reasoning in support of this general view. The title of the first chapter sums up the main contention of the book in a characteristically provocative fashion: “Making a Covenant with Death.” The Covenant that Finkelman mentions is the American Constitution, and the subtitle explains what he means by this: “Slavery and the Constitutional Convention” (p. 3). The author understands the Constitution as being from the outset a “slaveholder’s compact” (p. ix) which is designed to preserve the status and privilege of the few white slave owners against the encroachment of increasing numbers of African slaves. In legislating for slavery to exist under certain conditions in different parts of the country, the Constitution solidified slavery into the very foundation of the nation. Finkelman builds his case using contemporary documents from the time when the Constitution was first being hammered out between the experts gathered in the Constitutional Convention. He argues that although some members present wanted to enshrine freedom from slavery into the Constitution “On every issue at the Convention slave owners had won major concessions from the rest of the nation” (p. 35). Finkelman uses colorful language, often borrowed from other historians, to characterize the terrible compromises that were hammered out, just in order to push through the American Constitution, as for example when he describes the slavery issue in the Convention discussions as “the Witch at the Christening” (p. 105). Some key historical documents are carefully examined including the 1787 Constitution, the 1787 Northwest Ordinance and the infamous Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. Finkelman explains how the demarcation of a boundary which separated the states where slavery was allowed from the states where it was officially outlawed worked in fact to support slavery in the South. This is because it served as a fence to contain slaves in the South. Some prevarication over terminology, such as bondage and domestic service also persisted in the borderline states of Indiana and Illinois, which meant that forms of servitude very close to actual slavery remained in force in these states for several decades. This state by state analysis reveals the messy details that lie behind the neat narratives of the history books, and encourages the reader to think carefully before making sweeping assumptions. There was much that united North and South, and one of these uniting forces was slavery. Even if the means of production in such valuable commodities as cotton and tobacco was mainly in the South, the financial and trading centers in the North profited nonetheless at second and third hand from this lucrative business. Quite a considerable space in the book is devoted to the character and lifestyle of Thomas Jefferson. Much of the ground is very familiar from other history books, but what this book manages to do more than any other is highlight the contradictions that were inherent in this man’s position. He is remembered as one of the Founding Fathers, and a great hero to many Americans. He was an intellectual, a man of the world who travelled on diplomatic missions to Europe and mingled with high society and royalty while in London and Paris. Underneath this urbane exterior, however, Finkelman reminds us that there is a Virginian slave owning mentality. The same man who contributed the immortal words in the Constitution about every man being created equal evidently did not live out this ideal in the treatment of his own slaves. This reflects a very human tendency that people have, to apply high standards to others, in this case the colonial masters in England, while reserving a less demanding position for themselves, in this case in the case of Southern plantation owners and the ranks of white urban and upper class politicians who benefited both directly and indirectly from the wealth that this economic system generated. Finkelman’s language is, at times, deliberately extreme, as if to highlight for modern readers the political assumptions that were taken for granted in the late eighteenth century, and emphasize the glaring difference in American sensibility that has taken place since then. Finkelman maintains that Jefferson enjoyed “a lifestyle based on white supremacy” (p. 178). The economic power of the elites could not have existed without the enormous unpaid labor of the Southern slaves. Jefferson is quoted making a very telling remark which reveals just how conscious he was of the hypocrisy of his own position, and how much he feared the bloodshed that he felt was bound to come along at some time in the future: “ ‘I tremble for my country’ he wrote in Notes, ‘when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune , an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!’” (pp. 179-180). A useful contribution that this book makes is that it shows the long and laborious work of changing a nation’s basic moral principles. The reforming ideas take root very quickly, but the noble actions required to put the ideas into practice are contested at every turn. In a way it is as if Jefferson personifies early American ambivalence about slavery. Finkelman seems to enjoy describing Jefferson’s extremely lavish lifestyle, and his apparent acceptance of slaveholding as a way of subsidizing his own immediate family life (p. 107-108). There is documentary evidence that Jefferson bought and sold slaves in order to balance his finances, and so he directly profited from the institution that he made lofty speeches about in Congress. There was a very evident gap between what he professed in his political life, and what he lived out in his private life, and this very human failing was apparently mirrored across much of early America. This is one of the more contentious areas of the book, since Finkelman interprets Jefferson’s position as being anti- slavery, in the sense that he would prefer there not to be any black slaves in America. The real motivation behind Jefferson’s position, Finkelman argues, is a deep seated antipathy towards the African American people. In other words, Jefferson is paradoxically racist and anti-slavery. He sees slavery as a means towards an end, and that end is the existence of a free and prosperous nation of white Americans, untroubled by the slave population, which Jefferson considered to be inferior in every way. The solution to the great debate about slavery would be, in his view, to send them back to the countries they came from (p. 128). The underlying message of this book is rather uncomfortable for modern readers. Finkelman makes it abundantly clear that a man of Jefferson’s undoubted intellect and talent displayed astonishing blind spots when it came to the subject of slavery, and this reveals a fundamentally disappointing feature of human nature: human beings are inconsistent and fickle in their understanding of moral issues, to the point of inexplicable cruelty. One anecdote illustrates this paradox very well: Finkelman relates how Jefferson freed a few slaves who were related to him through various close family liaisons during his lifetime, and on his death he arranged for one long serving slave to receive his freedom (p. 191). He did not, however, arrange for this slave’s wife and eight children likewise to be freed, with the result that they were sold off to various bidders, splitting up the family and leaving the freed slave in the unenviable position of not being able to share his freedom with those closest to him. At this distance it is impossible to say whether Jefferson just did not think this through, or whether, as Finkelman suggests it is because Jefferson did not think black slaves capable of fine feelings like love for their families. Either way, the anecdote brings to life the terrible human cost of slavery, and the staggering lack of empathy that the makers of the American Constitution displayed, even while drafting lofty ideals for the new American nation. If there is a fault in this book it lies in the one-sided and rather negative depiction of Jefferson as a man beholden to the slave owning folks back in Virginia who supported him politically, and in other ways too. The chapter on Jefferson’s possible relationship with one of his own slaves, and his possible fathering of at least one child with her, relies on some unproven DNA evidence, and though it makes for interesting reading, and no doubt contributed to the sales pitch for the second edition of the book, it does not stand up to rigorous scientific scrutiny. There is little discussion of his international efforts to secure diplomatic solutions to American problems, or to his considerable output on scientific and philosophical ideas. It is clear from Jefferson’s meteoric rise through high society that he came into contact with many colonialist thinkers and politicians, and it is likely that some of his ideas on race must have come from these sources. The supremacy of European civilization must have appeared as a self-evident fact to Jefferson, compared to the embryonic state of affairs across the Atlantic. It may be unrealistic to expect a man of such astonishing vision and intellect to effect a complete re-writing of Western civilization. He no doubt took a long view on the building of America and this may explain his blindness on the slave issue. The more pressing issue of freedom to wipe the slate clean and start again afresh no doubt left little room for other matters. Overall, then, the book is somewhat harsh on Jefferson, and it imputes upon the Founding Fathers an expectation that they should operate with concepts and insights that were far in advance of their age. Readers of this book may initially be disappointed to learn that the heroes of the past had such major failings, but after some reflection and re-reading of the key documents of the time, this disappointment turns to astonishment that they managed to achieve so much despite such an unpropitious moral and economic climate. The final wording of the Constitution has held up through the centuries even to the modern age, and it still is regarded as the epitome of Americanness – the highest ideal to which the nation aspires. One consequence of reading this book is to prompt readers to reflect on how future ages will judge the politicians of the present time. We base our current social order on the same key guarantees of universal freedom and the right to pursue happiness, but there are some aspects of modern society that are just as reprehensible, and legally supported, as slavery was in the time of Jefferson. The Guantanemo prisoners and the millions of Americans who cannot afford health insurance suffer similar indignities, but of course we have our own terminology and ways of framing these situations that make it seem less of an issue. Racism is arguably as much an issue for modern America as it was in the period discussed in Finkelman’s book, only the ground is shifting to include a wider diversity of groups which are regarded as second class citizens. All in all, this is a well-researched book that closely examines the messy, at times contradictory and hypocritical argumentation that went on in the creation of the founding documentation for the modern American state. If it is a little too negative in its assessment of some key figures, then no doubt the reason for this is that the author wants to correct any over-positive assessment of this first phase in our country’s democratic existence. It shows the process, warts and all, and in so doing it offers a valuable service and useful reminder for historians in all periods. References Finkelman, (2001) Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson. Second edition. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Read More