Slavery, Capitalism, and Politics in the Antebellum Republic (review)

BOOK reviews91 the 1850s. That his letters and observations were so extensively published suggests that the South may not have been a "closed society" in the decade before the war. Because of his extensive reporting on the Kansas crisis, Redpath originally planned a fourth Southern tour. But after the Harpers Ferry raid, he scuttled that idea and went to Haiti instead. Redpath became the official Haitian lobbyist to secure recognition for that island from the United States. During the Civil War he served as a correspondent and published inexpensive books for the soldiers. He became a bitter opponent of President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policy and was appointed the first superintendent of education in South Carolina in the federally occupied area. Until his death, Redpath supported causes that promoted the advancement and education of African Americans . Although some may wonder why a new edition of Redpath's The Roving Editor was published, McKivigan has presented the profession with a superb document. Not only has he annotated the book, but he captures the essence of Redpath's Southern tours, identifies all the John Ball, Jr., letters, plus he provides additional writings by Redpath. Moreover, his introduction is a reasoned explanation of the pros and cons of using interviews from African Americans who were either slaves, successful runaways, or who survived the vicissitudes ofa slave society as supposedly "free." McKivigan has provided us with an extensive picture and characterization of a "radical" abolitionist that demonstrates how far slavery had divided the American soul. Barry A. Crouch Gallaudet University Slavery, Capitalism, and Politics in the Antebellum Republic. By John Ashworth . (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. xii, 520. $64.95.) This volume, subtitled Commerce and Compromise. 1820-1850, is the first of a projected two-volume study on the issues of slavery, politics, and capitalism during the whole of the antebellum period. John Ashworth, professor of history at East Anglia University, includes such topics as Jefferson and slavery, the Missouri Compromise, abolitionism, John C. Calhoun's political theory, Jacksonian democracy, expansion, and the Compromise of 1 850. What distinguishes Ashworth's handling of these subjects from works by other historians is that he does not interweave narrative and analysis; the narrative of an event is followed by a separate section of analysis. Thus, readers who feel certain about their knowledge of the Missouri Compromise or the Compromise of 1850, for example, can skim over the these pages and go immediately to the interpretation. While the historical narratives flow well because of Professor Ashworth's competent writing style, readers may have trouble accepting the interpretations . His emphasis on class struggle causes Ashworth's other explanations 92CIVIL WAR HISTORY sometimes to go awry. For example, he regards the destruction of property by slaves, the working class rebeling against the master class, as the main reason why Southern whites of the antebellum period failed to develop an industrial economy. Industrial machinery was too expensive to permit slaves to operate and perhaps destroy it. Ashworth regards the use of slave labor at the Tredegar works as an exception. Perhaps concern about industrial property influenced a few, but I believe the generally accepted historical explanation about the Southern mindset was a more determining factor: whites in the South denigrated an industrial society as inferior to an agricultural one from both an economic and social standpoint. Again, Ashworth explains Van Buren's failure to achieve the presidential nomination in 1844 as a result of Calhoun's letter defending slavery to Richard Pakenham, British minister. No mention is made of Van Buren's letter to the Niles Weekly Register opposing the annexation ofTexas. In addition, the organization of the book is confusing and flows against the chronology of events. Digressing from his discussion of abolitionism and Calhoun's political theory in the 1830s, Ashworth launches into an extended critique of George Fitzhugh's writings and Southern demands to reopen the African slave trade, both of which belong more properly to a discussion of events in the 1850s. He then returns to Jacksonian democracy and the attitudes of Whigs and Democrats toward slavery before finally ending with expansion and the Compromise of 1850. While Slavery, Capitalism, and Politics in the...