The Slave power: its character, career, and probable designs : being an attempt to explain the real issues involved in the American contest [Paperback]

John Elliott Cairnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1863

This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOHN E. CAIRNES (1823–1875) earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Trinity College in Dublin. He held the Whately professorship of political economy at the University of Dublin before being named professor of political economy and jurisprudence at Queen’s College in Galway in 1859. In 1866 Cairnes became professor of political economy at University College, London.

MARK M. SMITH received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he is now a professor of history. The author of Mastered by the Clock: Time, Slavery, and Freedom in the American South; Debating Slavery: Economy and Society in the Antebellum American South; and Listening to Nineteenth-Century America, Smith is also the editor of The Old South. He has published articles in a number of journals including the American Historical Review, Past and Present, the Journal of Southern History, the William and Mary Quarterly, and the Journal of the Historical Society. Smith lives in Columbia. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Library (January 1, 1863)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 5872514190
• ISBN-13: 978-1429730938
• ASIN: 1429730935
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars History -- Or Fiction, December 1, 2004

By 

R. DILGER (Woodridge, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Slave Power: Its Character, Career, and Probable Designs: Being an Attempt to Explain the Real Issues Involved in the American Cont (Southern Classics Series) (Paperback)

John Cairnes, a British contemporary economist of the time, wrote his work in 1862 attempting to explain how the Slave Power (the plantation aristocracy of the South) conspired over a period of 50 years prior to the Civil War to promote slavery as a protected, "peculiar institution" in the whole United States. Much of what Cairnes says is absolutely true and historically supported. Some of his contentions are subjective and can not be proven in fact or historical reflection. The introduction of the recent edition, written by Mark Smith, points out numerous errors and inconsistencies that crept into the work in 1862. John Cairnes, himself, is very redundant. He repeats his position and explanations to the point of distraction. Add the historical inconsistencies and this work is best suited as a research document for an experienced Civil War history afficiencado.