A Necessary Evil?

From abolitionists like Benjamin Rush and John Jay to slaveholders like Washington and Jefferson, slavery presented the creators of the American republic with a profound dilemma. Throughout the period, a growing reform movement stimulated Northern states to emancipate their slaves gradually and prohibit the importation of new ones, but simultaneously entrenched Southern slaveholders and politicians became more dogmatic and defensive as racism triumphed in America. This collection of primary sources, including the complete record of slavery and the Constitiution's ratification, describes the transformation of white America's attitudes toward slavery and freedom from the idealistic beginnings of the Revolution to the harsh realities of postwar depression and nation-building.

John P. Kaminski is the director of The Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the Unversity of Wisconsin-Madison. He has written and spoken widely on the Constitution. He is a former president of The Association for Documentary Editing.