Offering a provocative new look at the politics of secession in
antebellum Virginia, William Link places African Americans at the center
of events and argues that their acts of defiance and rebellion had
powerful political repercussions throughout the turbulent period leading
up to the Civil War.
An upper South state with nearly half a million slaves--more than any
other state in the nation--and some 50,000 free blacks, Virginia
witnessed a uniquely volatile convergence of slave resistance and
electoral politics in the 1850s. While masters struggled with slaves,
disunionists sought to join a regionwide effort to secede and moderates
sought to protect slavery but remain in the Union. Arguing for a
definition of political action that extends beyond the electoral sphere,
Link shows that the coming of the Civil War was directly connected to
Virginia's system of slavery, as the tension between defiant slaves and
anxious slaveholders energized Virginia politics and spurred on the
impending sectional crisis.
An upper South state with nearly half a million slaves--more than any
other state in the nation--and some 50,000 free blacks, Virginia
witnessed a uniquely volatile convergence of slave resistance and
electoral politics in the 1850s. While masters struggled with slaves,
disunionists sought to join a regionwide effort to secede and moderates
sought to protect slavery but remain in the Union. Arguing for a
definition of political action that extends beyond the electoral sphere,
William Link shows that the coming of the Civil War was directly
connected to Virginia's system of slavery, as the tension between
defiant slaves and anxious slaveholders energized Virginia politics and
spurred on the impending sectional crisis.
