Civil war causes and consequences

Slavery, Freedom & Nation-Building

The Intersecting Roles of Slavery, Freedom and Nation-Building in 18th Century American Society in the Boisterous Sea of Liberty by D. Davis and S. Mintz

The book The Boisterous Sea of Liberty by David Davis and Steven Mintz presented a comprehensive look at the history of American society, from its inception as an English colony in the 15th century, to its emergence as a nation in the 18th century. In Part 6 of the book, entitled, "Creating a new nation," the authors presented documents that reflected the state of American society as it crossed over from being a colony towards being a nation independent from English authority.

While this section of the book tackled the transition from colonialism to independence, the United States as a nation cannot be simply summed up by this transition. At best, the country's history can be described as experiencing 'intersecting transitions' -- that is, while America tried to break away from English rule, its people are also struggling to define themselves in a country that is gradually defining itself as a nation. This internal transition was the widening stratification in American society, between the 'dominant' and marginalized groups. The dominant group is represented by the English-Americans, who came into the country to serve as an English colony, but eventually yearned to establish their own nation. They were the dominant group not because they had strength in numbers, but because they had the technology needed to dominate over the marginalized groups, which were represented by the Native American Indians and African slaves.

The intersecting roles of slavery, freedom, and nation-building became apparent in Part 6 because of these external and internal transitions occurring within the American society at the time. To illustrate these transitions, two documents will be analyzed, each in respect to the kind of transition/theme that happened in American society's history.

James Madison's letter to Edmund Pendleton in February 1787 demonstrated the road to independence that America was gradually undertaking during this period (236). This letter discusses in detail Madison's thoughts about an independent American nation, assuming both a legal and philosophical point-of-view in arguing his points for independence and against British rule and colonialism -- specifically, the dissatisfaction of the people to the present government (i.e., being a British colony).

In his letter, Madison talked about the establishment of a political institution in the colony through a federalist government. He proposed that in this kind of government, it will do away with the tradition of 'monarchy,' likened to the British form of government, wherein powered is concentrated on one individual alone. Moreover, in advocating for the new American government, Madison argued that with the British ruling over the American people, the new government is a better option, the 'lesser evil' of the two: "[t]he bulk of the people will probably prefer the lesser evil of a partition of the Union into three more practicable and energetic Governments" (237).

This argument in the letter was not an unfounded statement. Prior to declaring the new government as the better option for American society, Madison enumerated the numerous problems that emerged from the 'iron hand' that Britain used in ruling its colony (America). From his letter, the rising conflict between Americans and the British became apparent, and the external transition happened as a result of this conflict.

Internally, there was also a transition brewing, primarily between the African slaves and the members of the American colonies, who owned the slaves as 'properties.' In Max Farrand's discussion in "The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 Slave Imports," the slavery as a lucrative economic activity manifested itself in the various arguments presented for and against it. Ultimately, states support the slavery system because "[t]he more slaves, the more produce to employ the carrying trade; the more consumption also; and the more of this, the more revenue for the common treasury" (245).