The Slaveholders' Dilemma: Freedom and Progress in Southern Conservative Thought, 1820-1860

by Eugene D. Genovese

Rescues antebellum Southern thinkers from intellectual obscurity

Eugene Genovese explores the efforts of American slaveholders to reconcile the intellectual dilemma in which they found themselves as supporters of freedom but defenders of slavery. In The Slaveholders' Dilemma, Genovese argues that the spokespeople for the Southern position demonstrated much greater intellectual talent than has been recognized in the past.

Genres: History, Politics, Philosophy, American History

136 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Eugene Dominic Genovese was an American historian of the American South and American slavery. He has been noted for bringing a Marxist perspective to the study of power, class and relations between planters and slaves in the South. His work Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made won the Bancroft Prize. He later abandoned the Left and Marxism, and embraced traditionalist conservatism.

Reviews

[Drew Norwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why read of the "slaveholders' dilemma"? Is there a dilemma that could possibly be less relevant? The book’s subtitle suggests an answer—especially when you know that the “freedom” relates to economic freedom and to different labor systems/social order and “progress” has in view material progress primarily, its obvious benefits and hidden dangers—but Genovese addresses the question directly in his introduction: "we could, if we would, profit greatly from a reasoned engagement with the thought of Calhoun, Dew, Bledsoe, Thornwell, and others as we grapple today with the staggering problems of a world in headlong transition to the Lord knows what. The finest aspects of their thought, shorn of the tragic commitment to slavery and racism, constitute a searing critique of the most dangerous tendencies in modern life."

The books consists of a robust introduction and three sections: (1) The Dilemma—focusing primarily on the writings of Thomas Roderick Dew and James Henley Thornwell; (2) The Struggle for a Way Out—John Calhoun, Albert Taylor Bledsoe, Henry Hughes, William J. Grayson, and Henry Timrod; and (3) Adventurism and Paralysis—William Trescott and James Henry Hammond.

[Oolalaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

9/20

[Mike Emett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required for American History 1787-1877 reading seminar P.h.D. course