9781422274187

Seeds of Discord In an 1820 letter explaining his position on the expansion of slavery into Missouri, Thomas Jefferson described the institution of slavery as having “the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go.” Jefferson embodied the dichotomy of early America’s identity when it came to enslaving Africans and African Americans. He was a man who benefited personally from the institution while promoting the ideals of freedom and equality. Indeed, the very founding of the United States was rife with conflict when it came to the issue of slavery. By the time of the constitution’s ratification in 1787, slavery was inextricably embedded in the economy and social structures of the time. It shaped the political landscape and, over time, pitted Americans against each other as states and regions identified as free or slave. The close of the nineteenth century’s first half saw the country’s boiling point, with the threat and eventual outbreak of civil war the result of decades of simmering tension over ideologies and failed compromises. SLAVERY IN AMERICA The system of chattel slavery came to the Americas shortly after the arrival of Europeans and the establishment of permanent colonies. The Spanish and Portuguese, having failed to enslave the

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