American Slavery, American Freedom is a study of the tragic contradiction at the core of America. How republican freedom came to be supported, at least in large part, by its opposite, slavery, is the subject of this book. The freedom of the free, the growth of freedom experienced in the American Revolution depended more than we like to admit on the enslavement of more than 20 percent of us at that time. Morgan writes: "Human relations among us still suffer from the former enslavement of a large portion of our predecessors. Virginians drafted not only the Declaration but also the Constitution and the Bill of Rights they were elected to the presidency of the United States under that Constitution for thirty-two of the first thirty-six years of its existence. Thomas Jefferson led them in declaring independence. George Washington led the Americans in battle against British oppression. In the American Revolution, Virginians were the most eloquent spokesmen for freedom and quality.
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