The role of slaves and free blacks in the politics of secession An upper South state with nearly half a million slaves 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 A. 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.

About the Author
WILLIAM A. LINK is Richard J. Mllbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida. His previous books include A Hard Country and a Lonely Place: Schooling, Society, and Reform in Rural Virginia, 1870-1920, and The Paradox of Southern Progressivism, 1880-1930.


Book Information
ISBN 9780807856611
Author William A. Link
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint The University of North Carolina Press
Publisher The University of North Carolina Press
Weight(grams) 555g