The Scope of Race and Revolution - Essay Example

Gary B. Nash is a historian and at UCLA. He is a graduate from Princeton and is very active in numerous professional organizations. He has served as an advisor for the development of the National History Standards. He focuses his research on early American history, specifically with an interest in studies involving questions of race and class. He is the author of several books in addition to Race and Revolution. This book was inspired by presentations given at the Merrill Jensen conference in 1988. Mr. Nash has long studied and admired the work of Mr. Jensen. While the former never wrote or lectured on issues of race in early America, Gary Nash seeks to emulate the progressive nature of Merrill Jensen’s research and writing. The scope of Race and Revolution is the years just prior to the American Revolution through the decades following the signing and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In the broadest sense, the book chronicles the evolving social, political and economic realities of the African-American experience during these years. Individual experiences are shared in an effort to show the differences between three distinct periods of time within the scope of the book. During the pre-Revolutionary War years, the rights and privileges of freed blacks are examined. Their equality in society and economic matters is highlighted. The pre-war years also seemed to hold a universal agreement by whites that it wasn’t a matter of if slavery would be abolished but when. Many held that slavery was incompatible with the ideals held by the founders of the republic. During the war, many African-Americans joined the British in their fight against the colonists. The British offered immediate emancipation to any slave that would join their ranks. Many slaves left their families and masters behind. These years of recovery saw a lessening of support for the abolition of slavery. Nash details the political and personal decisions that weakened the cause of the abolitionists and moved popular opinion towards a less optimistic view of black Americans, both free and enslaved. By the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, it was clear that African-Americans of all social classes and degrees of emancipation would not be granted full part in the new republic. They were to be insulted, degraded and relegated to second-class citizenship if free and continued servitude if enslaved. The final portion of the book examines the social evolution of institutions such as the establishment of independent black churches and independent black societies such as Masonic lodges. The importance of these institutions is put in context as a means of African-Americans exerting control over their own social destiny. Nash shows how African-Americans worked to establish a society within a society, one that could provide hope for a better, more equitable future while allowing free blacks to enjoy as much of the rights and privileges of the republic as possible. On the whole, Race and Revolution is not a history of African-Americans during the time period described. It is a history of America with special attention given to the social, economic and geographical forces that affected the development of African-American identity prior to and during the early days of our republic. The author explores several broad themes in Race and Revolution. The first of these themes is how prominent whites before the Revolutionary War viewed slavery. The revolutionary generation believed that environmental factors weighed greatest in determining human potential. This liberal view was a great boon to both free and enslaved African-Americans. For the free African-American, it was an open door to operate freely with white peers in society. Educated African-Americans were regularly a part of the same social circles as educated whites. African-Americans that prospered in pre-Revolutionary times were seen as proof of potential for all African-Americans. The abolishment of slavery would unlock the potential within the entire race because the environmental factor of slavery will be removed. All of this theory, however, hinged on the sacred belief held by this revolutionary generation that all men were indeed created equal. The author uses many primary sources to back up this assertion. One set of evidences offered to show that there was much support in the North and the South to end slavery is the various state constitutions and proposed legislation created at this time. Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton were given the task of rewriting many of the laws in Virginia in 1776. Economic considerations were always at the fore when considering any sort of general emancipation. Jefferson and his colleagues suggested that a good approach would be to ban all future importation of slaves and then to set a future date of emancipation. Jefferson suggested that future emancipation could occur in Virginia at the turn of 19th century. In the end, the legislation was never introduced because the authors judged that it would just be too unpopular, so they preferred to have the measure introduced later by amendment. It never was. But this one example of proposed legislation in the South, coupled with other legislation in northern states such a Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, showed that many were thinking about abolition well before the Revolutionary War started. Another set of data used to show the favorable views towards ending slavery is found in the increasing prevalence of manumissions in states such as Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. This manumission resulted in growing numbers of free black communities that were largely integrated into general society. In many of the manumission documents, the slave owners indicated that a reason for granting freedom to their slaves was because the institution of slavery as reprehensible. Having firmly established the fact that many pre-Revolutionary individuals felt that slavery was wrong; the next theme the author explores is the failure of the abolitionists. Nash introduces several situations, dealing with individuals and society as a whole, that shows why slavery was not abolished. This is perhaps one of the most intriguing themes in the book because the author introduces the controversial idea that the continuation of slavery in the republic has more to do with Northern politicians and leaders than Southern desires to retain the institution. Nash first lays blame squarely at the feet of Northern lawmakers for not pushing southern states, specifically Georgia and South Carolina, on the topic of slavery. Even in the early days of the republic, these states threatened to seceded if slavery was abolished. The author feels that this threat was an empty one and the other states should have known it. Georgia and South Carolina were not capable of defending themselves from the threats to their sovereignty posed by the Spanish in Florida and the Creek confederacy. Northern states did not even introduce the question of abolishing slavery in the 1790 congress. This allowed the far southern states a free pass on slavery at a crucial time. Northern states were able to appear as the good guys because they enacted emancipation laws in their various states, but they abandoned the slaves in the South. This was very disappointing to some leaders, such as James Madison who felt that slavery was a national problem; therefore it required a national solution. The author moves along this theme to the look at other sources of Northern weakness. Individual abolitionists in the North had a difficult time releasing their slaves. The Reverend Francis Allison and Benjamin Rush were two of the Northerners scrutinized by Nash. Neither could bring themselves to free their slaves, even though they were advocates for ending the institution of slavery. These examples were not provided as some sort of personal condemnation of these individuals. Rather, they were provided to show how real the difficulty of freeing slaves was in both economic and social terms. Slaves represented property and leisure for their masters. Freeing slaves had real negative consequences for the owners. Also, as their masters freed more slaves voluntarily, the integration of free blacks into society began to be a problem for the Southern states. The slave revolt on the island of St. Dominique scared many Southern whites. Whether they were free or enslaved, the very real possibility of a white minority in the southern states was not appealing to any whites in the North and South. Black populations were viewed as a threat, so legislation began to circulate suggesting repatriation to Africa or resettlement to the new Western lands for all African_Americans. Once again, these ideas died in congress due to a lack of will on behalf of the Northern members of Congress. A third theme of the book focuses on how free blacks attempted to fit into society after it became obvious that emancipation would not be forthcoming in the Southern states. Many blacks began to become politicized, once the white leaders of the nation ignored their pleas for equality. Economic forces such as the invention of the cotton gin and the aforementioned weaknesses of Northern legislators contributed to the growth of slavery in the South. Some whites were espousing beliefs that spoke of the inherent inferiority of blacks. Contrary to the former belief in environmental factors shaping an individual, the new thinking held that blacks were incapable of self-rule and needed whites to guide and control them. Some blacks kicked back against such thinking. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the establishment of black churches. Christianization of African Americans was an important part of improving slaves and servant’s souls according to most in early American history. Blacks were welcome in white churches, though they were rarely given the opportunity to receive ordination and formal education in religious matters. In response to increasing racism at the beginning of the 19th century, black congregations of established Methodists churches began to break away from the general church body. This gave blacks an area of society that they controlled and was out of reach of whites. The black church quickly became a center of African-American social and spiritual life. Many in the black churches actually identified themselves with the children of Israel, God’s chosen people. They felt that white Americans had abandoned the ideals of the Revolution and it was only in the black community that these ideals could be kept in their purity. This manner of thinking resulted in a dichotomy of place for African-Americans in society. They were increasingly scorned in general society among whites due to a new belief in their inherent inferiority, yet they needed to be able to participate in the economic life of the nation. As a result, blacks found themselves creating a separate nation within a nation. This, the author notes, is still the case of many African Americans down to this day. Gary B. Nash embellishes all of these themes with a great number of primary source documents. The writings of abolitionists, politicians, clergy and freed blacks are all had in great numbers. Very little reliance is made on secondary sources. Occasionally there is a quote from another contemporary historian, but these are used to highlight what has been established by primary sources. The writing of Thomas Jefferson is examined throughout. Of special interest is the author’s willingness to go beyond the commonly used quotations concerning race and the institution of slavery that Jefferson is famous for making. Nash proves adept at putting those quotations in context by expanding his explanation of text before and after the quotation. Gary Nash’s purpose in writing this book in an invitation to reevaluate some of forces that perpetuated slavery as an institution within a republic that espoused the ideals of freedom and equality for all. By far, his most striking thesis and the most elaborately explored theme is that of Northern complicity in helping to maintain and grow slavery as an institution during the post-revolutionary era. In establishing this theme, the author delves into economic, geographic, personal and social forces in order to try to build a full, balanced picture of why slavery was not abolished, why African-Americans were marginalized after the Revolution, and who was in a position to perhaps change the course of history. Factors such as the geographic position of Georgia and South Carolina that could be interpreted as a factor favoring the abolition of slavery were contrasted with changing social views of the inherent inferiority of blacks when compared to whites. The economic realities of freeing slaves and the desire for compensation on a personal level were put in context by showing how individual abolitionists could not part with their slaves even though they felt slavery to be wrong. Mr. Nash does not show any one force as being the determining course of history. Instead, he shows how a multiplicity of forces combines to determine the outcome of complex social issues. Race and Revolution is an incredibly insightful and useful book. Any student of history that desires a more thorough understanding of slavery as an institution and the forces that helped sustain and expand it will be well served by reading this book. Especially powerful is the new ideas concerning the role of the Northern states in perpetuating this national tragedy. The myth of Southerners being the primary proponents of slavery melts away with Nash’s thorough analysis of primary sources. The book is wonderfully informative to anyone wishing to have a better understanding of the origins of African-American culture and character as well. Not only are the themes fully explored in Race and Revolution, but also the writing is clear and concise. The actual written portion of the book is only about half of the total pages. The remaining pages are given entirely to notes on the sources used and additional quotes. The book does not employ footnotes, but I found the separate section of sources to be accessible and a real benefit to my understanding of the themes introduced by the author. Race and Revolution is a strongly written, well-organized examination of the African-American experience prior to, during and just after the Revolutionary War. Gary Nash has produced a work that is of benefit to the historical scholar and the simply inquisitive alike. The accessible writing and the thought provoking examination of forces political, social, economic and geographic in shaping the history of African-Americans and indeed, America itself, gives a clear and startlingly fresh view of the revolutionary generation. I recommend this book to anyone wishing to broaden his or her understanding of the peoples involved in the founding of the American republic. Nash, Gary B. Race and Revolution. Madison house Publishers: Madison Wisconsin. 1990 Read More