Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk [Hardcover]

William Dusinberre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2003

James Polk was President of the United States from 1845 to 1849, a time when slavery began to dominate American politics. Polk's presidency coincided with the eruption of the territorial slavery issue, which within a few years would lead to the catastrophe of the Civil War. Polk himself owned substantial cotton plantations-- in Tennessee and later in Mississippi-- and some 50 slaves. Unlike many antebellum planters who portrayed their involvement with slavery as a historical burden bestowed onto them by their ancestors, Polk entered the slave business of his own volition, for reasons principally of financial self-interest. Drawing on previously unexplored records, Slavemaster President recreates the world of Polk's plantation and the personal histories of his slaves, in what is arguably the most careful and vivid account to date of how slavery functioned on a single cotton plantation. Life at the Polk estate was brutal and often short. Fewer than one in two slave children lived to the age of fifteen, a child mortality rate even higher than that on the average plantation. A steady stream of slaves temporarily fled the plantation throughout Polk's tenure as absentee slavemaster. Yet Polk was in some respects an enlightened owner, instituting an unusual incentive plan for his slaves and granting extensive privileges to his most favored slave. Startlingly, Dusinberre shows how Polk sought to hide from public knowledge the fact that, while he was president, he was secretly buying as many slaves as his plantation revenues permitted. Shortly before his sudden death from cholera, the president quietly drafted a new will, in which he expressed the hope that his slaves might be freed--but only after he and his wife were both dead. The very next day, he authorized the purchase, in strictest secrecy, of six more very young slaves. By contrast with Senator John C. Calhoun, President Polk has been seen as a moderate Southern Democratic leader. But Dusinberre suggests that the president's political stance toward slavery-- influenced as it was by his deep personal involvement in the plantation system-- may actually have helped precipitate the Civil War that Polk sought to avoid.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A good look at the very hard, often harsh, conditions on a new plantation in a frontier area."--CHOICE

"This is a striking and important book. James K. Polk tried to keep his activities as a slaveowner and absentee planter separate from his public life as a politician and, eventually, president. William Dusinberre brings the two sides of Polk's career together again. He has done more than anyone else to examine the lives of Polk's slaves, and reveals often-disturbing evidence about the harshness of their conditions. He also shows how Polk's perspectives as a planter shaped his administration's expansionist policies. This will be essential reading for all interested in the debate on slavery and the origins of the Civil War."-Christopher Clark, University of Warwick

"Slavemaster President is a powerful combination of careful research, clear prose, and controlled passion. At the core of the book is a meticulous reconstruction of James Knox Polk's cotton plantation. But Dusinberre is after much bigger analytical fish than a single case study would suggest: he uses Polk as a launching pad for a full-scale reinterpretation of the antebellum South. In so doing, he reintegrates the social and political history of southern slave society, bringing us closer than ever to understanding precisely how the politics of slavery led ultimately to Civil War."--James Oakes, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

"No other study that I can think of juxtaposes so revealingly the personal experiences of the enslaved with those of their enslaver, or the career of a slaveholder with the leadership of a president. By bringing to life the world of the enslaved people for whom James K. Polk was responsible even as Polk himself became responsible for slavery's westward expansion, Dusinberre presents a truly original synthesis of biography and social history that challenges us to reexamine the politics of the sectional conflict."--James Brewer Stewart, Macalester College

About the Author

William Dusinberre is author of the award-winning Them Dark Days: Slavery in the American Rice Swamps.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First edition (March 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195157354
• ISBN-13: 978-0195157352
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #918,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Polk as villain, June 24, 2003

By 

John B. Maggiore (Buffalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk (Hardcover)

James Polk is usually the least familiar president to appear on historians top 10 lists. But for William Dusinberre, Polk firmly holds a spot near the very bottom. For Dusinberre, Polk and his ideological brethren set the country on a course that unnecessarily led to the Civil War, the violent fall of the South, and the self-destruction of his own class.

Polk annexed Texas and was the instigator of the Mexican American War, which led to acquisition of most of the southwest for the United States. Polk also took the Oregon territory, which encompassed much of what is now the northwestern United States. Dusinberre suggests that there was a certain inevitability to some of this, but the way it all played out, and the final border results were far from certain. Polks overly aggressive expansionism was, to Dusinberre the worst possible way for the country to stretch from sea to shinning sea because it infused militarism and obstinacy into the debate about the future of slavery.

Dusinberre convincingly argues that Polks, and the Southern ruling classes mores about slavery as a tool of social order, southern honor, and states rights were all subservient to the economic benefits reaped by slave owners such as Polk. This economic incentive was so great, that it blinded Polk to what Dusinberre believes to be the inevitable fall of slavery. A more forward-looking advocate of the Southern ruling class could have promoted a plan for a soft landing and perhaps sought alliances with moderates, rather than painting everyone who had any problems with slavery as extreme abolitionists.

Polks military adventurism, intolerance for even discussion of issues related to slavery, and insistence that slave owners so-called rights should be expanded (or the South would lose its dominance in the Senate) was coupled by his implicit threat of secession in the event of almost any sort of compromise. Dusinberre argues that before Polk and his war, different gradations of opinion existed in the south, but afterward existed only unithought. The Civil War followed.

SLAVEMASTER PRESIDENT is not really a biography as much as it is a study of how slave ownership may have affected the ideology of pre-Civil War southern Democrats such as and including Polk, and how that ideology in turn contributed to the conditions that led to the Civil War. It is a compelling argument. Dusinberre also achieves a heart-rending description of slave life on the Polk plantation. The book achieves what it set out to do.

Still, I would have liked the book to be a bit more biographical. Dusinberre expains up front that his book does not discuss Polks role as a congressman in President Andrew Jacksons war against the Bank of the United States. Nor does it portray President Polks part in securing the Tariff of 1846, nor his diplomacy with Britain, which led to the establishment of the northwestern boundary dividing the United States from Canada. These stories, explains Dusinberre, have been told elsewhere. Maybe they have, but there is remarkably little popular literature on this influential, if wrongheaded president. I am satisfied with Dusinberres book such that it is, but it also left me wanting to read more about Polk.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a page turner, but certainly a worthwhile read., November 7, 2003

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk (Hardcover)

For American history buffs in general, and Civil War enthusiasts in particular, William Dusinberre has produced a volume worthy of your attention. Dusinberre argues with great vigor that James Polk helped to plant the seeds of civil war while he was President during the late 1840's. While pursuing the Presidency, Polk presented himself as a moderate on the issue of slavery. All the while, he was quietly engaged in the buying and selling of slaves for his Mississippi plantation. Dusinberre argues that throughout his four years in office, Polk advocated policies designed to perpetuate slavery for the forseable future. He cites in particular the annexation of Texas as a major issue. The book also chronicles the appalling working and living conditions many slaves were forced to live under and the total disregard that most slavemasters (Polk included) for the slaves family lives. In most instances, if it was a profitable transaction, slaves were sold off to the highest bidder and families were torn apart. Polk always portrayed himself as the benevolent master but the facts seem to dispute his claims. "Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk" can be slow moving and at times I wondered if I would have the endurance to finish it. But I am glad I did. This book gives us an entirely new perspective on the events of that period and as such is a welcome addition.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and biased view of James polk., November 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk (Hardcover)

I'm not sure if I would have been better off reading a general bio on Polk first, becuase this book is very biased, as the author admits. The argument is that Polk's policy was stronly influenced by him being a slaveowner. That Polk had conflicting interests because he ran several plantations in Tn and Miss and he was using the money from the plantations to secure himself a post-presidential retirement.

The book is organized in an interesting way. It begins by describing Polk's plantations and what it was like for the slaves , plus gives details regarding the overseers,a nd Polk's policies regarding purchasing and selling of slaves. Polk endeavored to hide what he was doing from the general public and his reasons for selling and guying were definitley not always patriarchal, but monetary.

Polk died a few months after leaving office, and none or few of his papers were destroyed, hence we have a record of what ocurred on the plantations.

the second half of the book covers the main aspects of Polk's presidential career --annexation of Tx and the MX War. The author discusses the events through the lens of slavery and tried to argue Polk's descisions were heavily influenced by Polk being a slaveowner. the author presents many what-ifs, discussing a vairety of other scenarios that could have happened during Polk's presidency had he made other choices. I found these diversions to be a strength of the book instead of an irritant. The book gave me a lot to think about,a nd it was particulary interesting to learn the details of what Polk plantation life was like.