American Slavery, 1619-1877
The title of the book this document will review is: "American Slavery, 1619-1877" by Peter Kolchin, published by Hill and Wang, copyright 1993, 2003. Mr. Kolchin is a well-known and respected author and professor, recently winning the prestigious Alison award from the University of Delaware. This award is but one in the lengthy list of recognitions awarded him for his work and writings in the study of slavery and southern history. Mr. Kolchin has authored four other books about slavery and southern history, which have also garnered critical acclaim.The book "American Slavery, 1619-1877" is a survey of American slavery and a probe into the life of those involved in the "peculiar institution" of slavery. It begins with the origin of slavery in the sixteen hundreds, with the importation of slaves from Africa where their free labor was used to establish the agricultural base of the new world. From this point, the author progresses to follow the growth of slavery, not just by quoting statistics, but by providing accounts of conditions of the lives and times of slaves as well as slave owners. The author does not just provide tales of hardship and a damning opinion of slavery, but rather focuses on the facts of daily living
Social, religious and economic factors are also prevalent in the book, as they act as the catalyst for the events in the history of slavery. It is well organized and reaches depths that few other books care to. The chronological format of the book is the key to organization, providing a logical flow and allowing the reader to see how the events of the day had direct impacts on slavery. The bibliographical essay lists hundreds of books that pertain to the writing in a sectional format and describes particular topics covered in each book. This is easy to see in the straightforward and matter-of-fact way that the author discusses topics from whipping of slaves, to the selling of slaves resulting in the breakup of families. The irony of this is that slave owners saw no wrong in what they were doing, regardless of how they treated their respective slaves. Kolchin delves deeply into the strangely interesting dynamic of the slave-master relationship that allows events like a master whipping a slave for working slowly and then that evening gathering all of the slaves for a time of bible reading. This is done by presenting facts on many different levels. The fact that the person who provides basic needs for others but demands free labor in return with no opportunity for free will is evaluated over and again in the book with interesting outcomes. But, the author also presents a slave owner who had minimal impact on slaves lives outside of the workday, one who allowed the slaves to have social and religious celebrations of their own choosing, and viewed the slaves as not just property, but humans. At times slaves were overtly resistive to their predicament, while others provided less obvious resistance in the form of slow work, feigning illness, and even sabotage. Kolchin effectively used statistics in writing this book, in that, at the start of most sections or chapters the reader was able to ascertain the slave population and distribution, as well as growth rates and comparison to white population. Kolchin's interpretation of this particular historic era shows that its' history is primarily determined by individuals with economic motivations. When the author wanted to explain the horrors of these situations, he used quotes from slaves themselves, not a personal soapbox that many authors use. By using these comparisons the reader can see how the treatment of slaves was paramount to production, controllability, and even reproduction.
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