Domesticating Slavery: The Master Class in Georgia and South Carolina, 1670-1837 [Paperback]

Jeffrey Robert Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1999

In this carefully crafted work, Jeffrey Young illuminates southern slaveholders' strange and tragic path toward a defiantly sectional mentality. Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence and integrating political, religious, economic, and literary sources, he chronicles the growth of a slaveowning culture that cast the southern planter in the role of benevolent Christian steward—even as slaveholders were brutally exploiting their slaves for maximum fiscal gain.

Domesticating Slavery offers a surprising answer to the long-standing question about slaveholders' relationship with the proliferating capitalistic markets of early-nineteenth-century America. Whereas previous scholars have depicted southern planters either as efficient businessmen who embraced market economics or as paternalists whose ideals placed them at odds with the industrializing capitalist society in the North, Young instead demonstrates how capitalism and paternalism acted together in unexpected ways to shape slaveholders' identity as a ruling elite. Beginning with slaveowners' responses to British imperialism in the colonial period and ending with the sectional crises of the 1830s, he traces the rise of a self-consciously southern master class in the Deep South and the attendant growth of political tensions that would eventually shatter the union.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An important and bracing book with a lot to recommend it.

Journal of the Early Republic

This work displays a depth of research and a breadth of vision seldom found in first books.

American Historical Review

Young's approach is both fresh and broad, and his touch is light.

Journal of American History

This will be an important work in the historiography of proslavery thought.

North Carolina Historical Review

Young•s theoretical model for slaveholder ideology should inspire other local and regional studies.

Choice

From the Inside Flap

Jeffrey Young chronicles the development of a slaveowning culture that managed to cast Southern planters as benevolent Christian stewards, even though slaveowners exploited their slaves for fiscal gain.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (October 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807847763
• ISBN-13: 978-0807847763
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Argument, May 3, 2000

By 

Jonathan M. Bryant (South Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Domesticating Slavery: The Master Class in Georgia and South Carolina, 1670-1837 (Paperback)

Young has managed to combine many factors in this work. He cogently explains how costal planters could perceive themselves as paternalistic masters protecting their slaves while at the same time literally driving those slaves to death in the name of profit. Even more cleverly, he traces the spread of this paternalistic, anti-capitalist rhetoric of the planters through their growing network of commercial capitalism. A revealing read.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, insightful, and thought-provoking. A great read., December 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Domesticating Slavery: The Master Class in Georgia and South Carolina, 1670-1837 (Paperback)

Mr. Young has outdone himself. His book not only offers well-argued insights on the subject matter, but his prose is sharp, funny and beautifully crafted. I recommend this book not only for historians, but for anyone looking to take an adventurous ride through our nation's earliest years. Mr. Young is clearly a young historian on the rise. I eagerly await his next work.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, insightful, and thought-provoking. A great read., December 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Domesticating Slavery: The Master Class in Georgia and South Carolina, 1670-1837 (Paperback)

Mr. Young has outdone himself. His book not only offers well-argued insights on the subject matter, but his prose is sharp, funny and beautifully crafted. I recommend this book not only for historians, but for anyone looking to take an adventurous ride through our nation's earliest years. Mr. Young is clearly a young historian on the rise. I eagerly await his next work.