Thomas Jefferson, Equality, and the Creation of a Civil Society

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Thomas Jefferson, Equality, and the Creation of a Civil Society View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Fordham University School of Law Fordham Law Review Volume 64 Issue 5 Article 1 1996 Thomas Jefferson, Equality, and the Creation of a Civil Society Gordon S. Wood Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Gordon S. Wood, Thomas Jefferson, Equality, and the Creation of a Civil Society, 64 Fordham L. Rev. 2133 (1996). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol64/iss5/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thomas Jefferson, Equality, and the Creation of a Civil Society Cover Page Footnote Gordon S. Wood is a University Professor and Professor of History at Brown University. This Address draws greatly from Professor Wood's book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992); readers interested in the historical references of this Address should refer to this source. This article is available in Fordham Law Review: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol64/iss5/1 REMARKS THOMAS JEFFERSON, EQUALITY, AND THE CREATION OF A CIVIL SOCIETY* Gordon S. Wood** It is a distinct honor to be delivering the Robert Levine Lecture at Fordham Law School, and I am very grateful for the invitation to be part of this distinguished lecture series. I spent last year in Washington D.C., and, as you New Yorkers know, it's a very strange place. Washington was, of course, a place that Thomas Jefferson never liked or put much stock in. To put it bluntly, Jefferson had very little faith in the capacities of the federal government to do much of anything, at least not after he had left the presidency. "Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap," he wrote in his autobiography in 1821, "we should soon want bread."' But Washington, being a city that has no sense of irony, has ignored all these insults and has honored Jefferson with a magnificent memorial that is rivaled by only those of Washington and Lincoln. Maybe public officials have such a special place in their heart for Jefferson because they know so little of what he actually believed in. Jefferson is so important to President William Jefferson Clinton that a year or so ago he and Mrs. Clinton held a dinner in Jefferson's honor, to which my wife and I were invited. I hoped it might be a dinner for eight, but it turned out to be a dinner for 180! It was held on April 12, the day before Jefferson's 251st birthday. Apparently the administra- tion wanted to celebrate Jefferson's 250th birthday, but forgot about it until the last moment and just got in before Jefferson turned 251. At any rate the President's dinner was a grand occasion. There were no lengthy speeches. The President introduced an impersonator of Jefferson who neither looked nor sounded like Jefferson looked or presumably sounded. The President seemed out of sorts, perhaps be- cause of a gaffe that earlier I had committed in the receiving line. My wife and I were near the end of the long line of 180 guests, whose hands President and Mrs. Clinton were relentlessly shaking. When it * Professor Wood delivered these remarks on October 19, 1995, as part of the Levine Distinguished Lecture Series, an annual lecture series at Fordham Law SchooL ** Gordon S. Wood is a University Professor and Professor of History at Brown University. This Address draws greatly from Professor Wood's book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992); readers interested in the historical references of this Address should refer to this source. 1. Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, reprinted in 1 The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 1, 122 (Andrew A. Lipscomb & Albert Elley Berghi eds., 1904) [hereinafter Autobiography]. 2133 2134 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW [Vol. 64 came my turn to shake the President's hand, with about a dozen or so guests to go, I decided I would say to him something other than the usual how-do-you-do. Feeling bad for him with all those hands to shake, I said to him: "Well, you don't have much longer." It wasn't quite what he wanted to hear-I know that because he looked very startled and gave me an icy stare. Mrs. Clinton, who was exchanging pleasantries with my wife, suddenly whipped around and likewise glared at me. It took me a moment to grasp what had happened and to mumble something about only a few more hands to shake in the receiving line. But it was too late: The deed was done. I'm sure that President Clinton held his commemorative dinner be- cause he believes he has a special kinship with Jefferson, for his name if for no other reason. But also because all politicians these days seem to want to get right with Jefferson. Although conservatives and Republicans have usually made Hamilton their hero, many of them have increasingly found affinities with Jefferson. George Will has called Jefferson the man of the millennium.' Massachusetts Governor Weld describes himself as a Jeffersonian. So did Ronald Reagan: He called upon Jefferson in order to justify his attempts to reduce the size of the federal government; indeed, he urged us all to "pluck a flower from Thomas Jefferson's life, and wear it in our soul forever."4 More recently Speaker of the House Gingrich has become very interested in Jefferson. And so has the Cato Institute.6 But during the past sixty years or so it has been the Democrats that have made the most of Jefferson. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the one who captured Jefferson for the Democrats. Of course, it was no easy task to turn a man who hated the federal government and believed in states rights into a sym- bol of the New Deal. But the Democrats pulled it off. Roosevelt put Jefferson into many of his speeches. In 1938 he personally manipu- lated to have Jefferson replace Lincoln on the three-cent stamp, the carrier of nearly every first-class letter at the time, and his administra- tion saw to it that Jefferson was taken off the scarce two-dollar bill, where the Republicans had relegated him, and placed on the popular nickel. And in Jefferson's bicentennial year, 1943, Roosevelt dedi- cated the Jefferson Memorial, which certainly was the high point of this country's celebration of Jefferson. If you have been to the Memo- rial recently, you'll recall that on the four walls of the temple there are 2. George F. Will, Person of the Millennium, Wash. Post, Dec. 16, 1990, at K7. 3. See Alex Beam, The Truth About Tiresome Tom, Boston Globe, Apr. 12, 1993, at 11. 4. John McClaughry, Jefferson's Vision, N.Y. Times, Apr. 13, 1982, at A27. 5. See R.W. Apple Jr., States of Mind: You Say You Want a Devolution, N.Y. Tumes, Jan. 29, 1995, § 4, at 1. 6. See Keith B. Richburg, Washington Awash in Think Tanks: Conservatives, Liberals, Clerics Compete for Minds of Policy Makers, Lawgivers, Wash. Post, Dec. 7, 1984, at A25. 1996] THOMAS JEFFERSONAND EQUALITY 2135 some stirring quotations from Jefferson. Nothing, however, about minimal government, states rights, or the fear of executive power. Even today Jefferson has a special appeal for Democrats. Several years ago, in February 1990 to be exact, two other historians and I received a call from Congressman Steny Hoyer, who is chairman of the Democratic Caucus, inviting us to address the annual meeting of the Caucus, which is composed of the Democratic congressmen and congresswomen who sit in the House of Representatives. Every year the members of the Caucus retreat to a secluded hotel or resort for a couple of days, to hold committee meetings and plan party strategy. Normally after a busy day of talking and hearing committee reports the members were used to having some light entertainment in the eve- ning. But this particular year, Congressman Hoyer told us, would be different. In the winter of 1990 the Democratic Party was in low spir- its-perhaps not as low as it is right now, but low enough-and it needed to get a hold of itself, needed to get back to its roots and reinvigorate its thinking. So instead of dancing girls or whatever, the Caucus wanted three historians each to talk about one of the Demo- cratic Party's favorite presidents-Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jack- son, and Franklin Roosevelt. We were given ten minutes each. I was to lead off and talk about Jefferson, the presumed founder of the Democratic Party. It was no easy task summing up Jefferson in ten minutes, especially to modem Democratic congressmen who have somewhat different ideas about government, especially the federal government, from those Jefferson had. I tried to get the members of the Caucus in a good mood by telling them that in Jefferson's time they, the Democratic Caucus, would not just meet to issue committee reports to each other, but would actually nominate the Democratic presidential candidate. They liked that. But then I had to tell these Democrats about Jefferson's ideas of minimal government, that he fervently believed that the best govern- ment was the one that governs least, that he disliked all federal taxes, that he had no programs for the cities, and that he in fact hated all cities and wanted America not to develop any.
Recommended publications
  • Awakening an Empire of Liberty: Exploring the Roots of Socratic Inquiry and Political Nihilism in American Democracy
    Washington University Law Review Volume 83 Issue 2 2005 Awakening an Empire of Liberty: Exploring the Roots of Socratic Inquiry and Political Nihilism in American Democracy Maurice R. Dyson Columbia Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Law and Politics Commons, and the Legal History Commons Recommended Citation Maurice R. Dyson, Awakening an Empire of Liberty: Exploring the Roots of Socratic Inquiry and Political Nihilism in American Democracy, 83 WASH. U. L. Q. 575 (2005). Available at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol83/iss2/4 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington University Law Review by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AWAKENING AN EMPIRE OF LIBERTY†: EXPLORING THE ROOTS OF SOCRATIC INQUIRY AND POLITICAL NIHILISM IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY MATTERS: WINNING THE FIGHT AGAINST IMPERIALISM. BY CORNEL WEST. PENGUIN PRESS (2004). Pp.229. * Reviewed by Maurice R. Dyson In his latest book, Democracy Matters, Cornel West contends that a perfect storm is in the making, one which has the greatest potential to destroy American democracy. This includes three combined anti- democratic dogmas that have collectively operated to deprive everyday Americans of the ability to critically analyze not only their own state of † The phrase “Empire of Liberty” was first used by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. The phrase has come to signify the contradiction of the United States as a beacon of egalitarian freedom and a bulwark of imperialism and racial subordination.
    [Show full text]
  • University of California
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara The United States and the Barbary Pirates: Adventures in Sexuality, State-Building, and Nationalism, 1784-1815 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Jason Raphael Zeledon Committee in charge: Professor Patricia Cohen, co-chair Professor John Majewski, co-chair Professor Salim Yaqub Professor Mhoze Chikowero June 2016 The dissertation of Jason Raphael Zeledon is approved ______________________________________________ Mhoze Chikowero ______________________________________________ Salim Yaqub ______________________________________________ Patricia Cohen, Committee Co-Chair ______________________________________________ John Majewski, Committee Co-Chair June 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my eleventh-grade American History teacher, Peggy Ormsby. If I had not taken her AP class, my life probably would have gone in a different direction! At that time math was my favorite subject, but her class got me hooked on studying American History. Thanks, too, to the excellent teachers and mentors in graduate school who shaped and challenged my thinking. At American University (where I earned my M.A.), I’d like to thank Max Friedman, Andrew Lewis, Kate Haulman, and Eileen Findlay. I transferred to UCSB to finish my Ph.D. and have thoroughly enjoyed working with Pat Cohen, John Majewski, Salim Yaqub, and Mhoze Chikowero. I’d especially like to thank Pat, who provided insightful feedback on early drafts of my chapter about the Mellimelli mission (which has been published in Diplomatic History). Additionally, I’d like to thank UCSB’s History, Writing, and English Departments for providing Teaching Assistantships and the staffs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room, and the Huntington Library for their help and friendliness.
    [Show full text]
  • Founding Fathers" in American History Dissertations
    EVOLVING OUR HEROES: AN ANALYSIS OF FOUNDERS AND "FOUNDING FATHERS" IN AMERICAN HISTORY DISSERTATIONS John M. Stawicki A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2019 Committee: Andrew Schocket, Advisor Ruth Herndon Scott Martin © 2019 John Stawicki All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Andrew Schocket, Advisor This thesis studies scholarly memory of the American founders and “Founding Fathers” via inclusion in American dissertations. Using eighty-one semi-randomly and diversely selected founders as case subjects to examine and trace how individual, group, and collective founder interest evolved over time, this thesis uniquely analyzes 20th and 21st Century Revolutionary American scholarship on the founders by dividing it five distinct periods, with the most recent period coinciding with “founders chic.” Using data analysis and topic modeling, this thesis engages three primary historiographic questions: What founders are most prevalent in Revolutionary scholarship? Are social, cultural, and “from below” histories increasing? And if said histories are increasing, are the “New Founders,” individuals only recently considered vital to the era, posited by these histories outnumbering the Top Seven Founders (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine) in founder scholarship? The thesis concludes that the Top Seven Founders have always dominated founder dissertation scholarship, that social, cultural, and “from below” histories are increasing, and that social categorical and “New Founder” histories are steadily increasing as Top Seven Founder studies are slowly decreasing, trends that may shift the Revolutionary America field away from the Top Seven Founders in future years, but is not yet significantly doing so.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Jefferson and the Indians
    “We shall all be Americans”: Thomas Jefferson and the Indians Peter S. Onup In early June, 1781, in one of his last official acts as governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson thanked his “brother” Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, the leader of the Kaskaskias, for his visit to Virginia and called for continued peace and friendship between their peoples. Three years earlier George Rogers Clark had seized the old French settlement at Kaskaskia, effectively extending Virginia’s jurisdic- tion through the Illinois country. An aggressive British presence in Detroit jeopardized Virginia’s control, however, forcing the Ameri- cans to enlist as many Indian allies in the region as possible. “I have joined with you sincerely in smoking the pipe of peace,” Jefferson told Ducoigne, “it is a good old custom handed down by your ances- tors, and as such I respect and join in it with reverence. I hope we shall long continue to smoke in friendship together. We, like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the same interests.” The most compelling “interest”of all true “Americans”was the elim- ination of British influence in the backcountry.’ Shortly after meeting with Ducoigne, Jefferson retired from office and began writing his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785). Celebrating his state’s glorious prospects, Jefferson offered a pow- erful rebuttal to the claims of the Comte du Buffon and other Euro- pean natural philosophers that the New World’s inferior natural endowment inevitably led to the degeneracy of animal species, includ- ing humans. Toward the end of a long section on Virginia’s “Pro- ductions, Mineral, Vegetable and Animal” (Query VI), Jefferson described the natural genius of the continent’s indigenous peoples, echoing the benevolent sentiments of his address to the Kaskaskia chief.
    [Show full text]
  • Jefferson's West Point
    Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research Volume 22 Issue 1 Article 8 April 2017 Jefferson’s West Point - A Durable Political Change Preslav Mantchev Illinois Wesleyan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/respublica Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Mantchev, Preslav (2017) "Jefferson’s estW Point - A Durable Political Change," Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 22 Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/respublica/vol22/iss1/8 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by editorial board of Res Publica and the Political Science Department at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Jefferson’s West Point - A Durable Political Change Abstract This essay evaluates a variety of national security visions put forth between the Revolution and War of 1812. It uncovers how a professional army became the prevailing national security apparatus during America’s nascent years. Additionally, special attention is given to Thomas Jefferson’s role in the process, which culminated in the establishment of a military academy at West Point.
    [Show full text]
  • Evaluating Westward Expansion
    QCB1k Identify and evaluate the political and territorial changes resulting from westward expansion of the United States in the early nineteenth century Evaluating Westward Expansion In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government for $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans, and it doubled the size of the United States. To Jefferson, westward expansion was the key to the nation’s health: He believed that a republic depended on an independent, virtuous citizenry for its survival, and that independence and virtue went hand in hand with land ownership, especially the ownership of small farms. (“Those who labor in the earth,” he wrote, “are the chosen people of God.”) In order to provide enough land to sustain this ideal population of virtuous yeomen, the United States would have to continue to expand. The westward expansion of the United States is one of the defining themes of 19th-century American history, but it is not just the story of Jefferson’s expanding “empire of liberty.” On the contrary, as one historian writes, in the six decades after the Louisiana Purchase, westward expansion “very nearly destroy[ed] the republic.” 1. Do you think that the author is putting a positive or negative spin on Jefferson’s idea of an “empire of liberty”? How can you tell? 2. Using your knowledge of history, determine how westward expansion “nearly destroyed the republic.” James K. Polk and the Policy of Expansion In the presidential election of 1844, Democrat James K.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Eleven: the Early Republic Contents
    Chapter Eleven: The Early Republic Contents 11.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 487 11.1.1 Learning Outcomes .................................................................................. 487 11.2 JEFFERSON ................................................................................................. 488 11.2.1 Jefferson’s Values ..................................................................................... 488 11.2.2 Forging a New Indian Policy ........................................................................ 489 11.2.3 The Louisiana Purchase ............................................................................. 491 11.2.4 The Lewis and Clark Expedition ................................................................... 492 11.2.5 Judicial Issues ......................................................................................... 494 11.2.6 Jefferson’s Second Term ............................................................................ 494 11.2.7 Foreign Pressures .................................................................................... 496 11.2.8 Before You Move On... ............................................................................. 498 Key Concepts ................................................................................................ 498 Test Yourself ................................................................................................. 498 11.3 MADISON ..................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Idea of Freedom in American History Eric Foner Dewitt Clinton
    The Idea of Freedom in American History Eric Foner DeWitt Clinton Professor of History Columbia University I wish to begin today with a single episode in the history of American freedom. On September 16, 1947, the 160th anniversary of the signing of the U. S. Constitution, the Freedom Train opened to the public in Philadelphia. A traveling exhibition of some 133 historical documents, the train, bedecked in red, white, and blue, soon embarked on a 16-month tour that took it to over 300 American cities. Never before or since have so many cherished pieces of Americana -- among them the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, and Gettysburg Address -- been assembled in one place. After leaving the train, visitors were exhorted to dedicate themselves to American values by taking the Freedom Pledge and adding their names to a Freedom Scroll. The idea for the Freedom Train, perhaps the most elaborate peacetime patriotic campaign in American history, originated in 1946 with the Department of Justice. President Truman endorsed it as a way of contrasting American freedom with "the destruction of liberty by the Hitler tyranny." Since direct government funding smacked of propaganda, however, the project was turned over to the non-profit American Heritage Foundation, whose board of trustees, dominated by leading bankers and industrialists, was headed by Winthrop W. Aldrich, chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank. By any measure, the Freedom Train was an enormous success. It attracted - 2 - over 3.5 million visitors, and millions more took part in the civic activities that accompanied its journey, including labor-management forums, educational programs, and patriotic parades.
    [Show full text]
  • Developing Freedom: Thomas Jefferson, the State, and Human Capability Johann N
    Western Washington University Western CEDAR History Faculty and Staff ubP lications History 4-2013 Developing Freedom: Thomas Jefferson, the State, and Human Capability Johann N. Neem Western Washington University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/history_facpubs Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Neem, Johann N., "Developing Freedom: Thomas Jefferson, the State, and Human Capability" (2013). History Faculty and Staff Publications. 16. https://cedar.wwu.edu/history_facpubs/16 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Faculty and Staff Publications by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Studies in American Political Development, 27 (April 2013), 36–50. ISSN 0898-588X/13 doi:10.1017/S0898588X13000023 # Cambridge University Press 2013 Developing Freedom: Thomas Jefferson, the State, and Human Capability Johann N. Neem, Western Washington University Thomas Jefferson is often invoked as an advocate of limited government and a defender of individual rights. This article argues that rights were Jefferson’s starting place. Jefferson also believed that American citizens should have opportunities to develop the capabilities necessary to enjoy the full use of their rights. Rather than thinking about Jefferson as progovernment or antigovernment, this article concludes that we must understand the particular kind of government Jefferson desired, the ends he had in mind, and why and how those ends differed from his Federalist predecessors. A better understanding of Jefferson’s statecraft not only offers a new perspective on the relationship between government and rights in Jefferson’s thought but also how and why Jeffersonians in power used the state to promote individual freedom.
    [Show full text]
  • Meet John Adams – a Lively and Revolutionary Conversation with America's Second President
    MEET JOHN ADAMS – A LIVELY AND REVOLUTIONARY CONVERSATION WITH AMERICA'S SECOND PRESIDENT CLE Credit: 1.0 Friday, May 13, 2016 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Cascade Ballroom B Kentucky International Convention Center Louisville, Kentucky A NOTE CONCERNING THE PROGRAM MATERIALS The materials included in this Kentucky Bar Association Continuing Legal Education handbook are intended to provide current and accurate information about the subject matter covered. No representation or warranty is made concerning the application of the legal or other principles discussed by the instructors to any specific fact situation, nor is any prediction made concerning how any particular judge or jury will interpret or apply such principles. The proper interpretation or application of the principles discussed is a matter for the considered judgment of the individual legal practitioner. The faculty and staff of this Kentucky Bar Association CLE program disclaim liability therefore. Attorneys using these materials, or information otherwise conveyed during the program, in dealing with a specific legal matter have a duty to research original and current sources of authority. Printed by: Evolution Creative Solutions 7107 Shona Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 Kentucky Bar Association TABLE OF CONTENTS The Presenter .................................................................................................................. i John Adams .................................................................................................................... 1 Interesting
    [Show full text]
  • Commerce and Conquest in Early American Foreign Relations, 1750–1850 PAUL A
    Commerce and Conquest in Early American Foreign Relations, 1750–1850 PAUL A. GILJE Early American foreign relations revolved around commerce. Most books on American diplomatic history begin with the premise that the United States inevitably occupied a continent. When we think about foreign relations, therefore, we all too often think about conquest. Con- sider two recent and crucial studies. Peter Onuf’s sophisticated analysis of Jefferson’s ideas on nationhood assumes that the Sage of Monticello believed that the United States would march across the continent to form an empire of liberty. Eliga Gould shares this perspective and argues that as early as 1776 Americans planned on replacing the British empire with a continental nation of their own that would allow the United States to be an equal among the powers of the earth. Although scholars like Onuf and Gould emphasize an early vision of an inevitable expansion, they also acknowledge the importance of commerce. Onuf discusses Jefferson’s interest in commerce as a “beneficent, harmonizing, and civilizing” force and contends that the faith in free trade would enable a commercial expansion that would lead to “the proliferation of Jefferson’s freeholding farmers.” Gould recognizes that international trade agreements contrib- uted to making the United States treaty worthy.1 Paul A. Gilje is George Lynn Cross Research Professor of History at the Uni- versity of Oklahoma. His most recent books are To Swear Like a Sailor: Maritime Culture in America, 1750–1850 (New York, 2016) and Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights in the War of 1812 (New York, 2013). 1.
    [Show full text]
  • John Randolph of Roanoke and the Politics of Doom: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Self-Deception, 1773-1821
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2012 John Randolph of Roanoke and the Politics of Doom: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Self-Deception, 1773-1821 Aaron Scott Crawford [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Crawford, Aaron Scott, "John Randolph of Roanoke and the Politics of Doom: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Self-Deception, 1773-1821. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1519 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Aaron Scott Crawford entitled "John Randolph of Roanoke and the Politics of Doom: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Self-Deception, 1773-1821." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. Daniel Feller, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Stephen Ash, Ernest Freeberg, Michael Fitzgerald Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) John Randolph of Roanoke and the Politics of Doom: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Self-Deception, 1773-1821 A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Aaron Scott Crawford December 2012 Copyright ©2012 Aaron Scott Crawford.
    [Show full text]