Name: The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832
ISBN: 9780393073713

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The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832

Alan Taylor

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Finalist:L.A. Times Book Prize -History (2013)

Finalist:National Book Award -Nonfiction (2013)

Frederick Douglass recalled that slaves living along Chesapeake Bay longingly viewed sailing ships as "freedom's swift-winged angels." In 1813 those angels appeared in the bay as British warships coming to punish the Americans for declaring war on the empire. Over many nights, hundreds of slaves paddled out to the warships seeking protection for their families from the ravages of slavery. The runaways pressured the British admirals into becoming liberators. As guides, pilots, sailors, and marines, the former slaves used their intimate knowledge of the countryside to transform the war. They enabled the British to escalate their onshore attacks and to capture and burn Washington, D.C. Tidewater masters had long dreaded their slaves as "an internal enemy." By mobilizing that enemy, the war ignited the deepest fears of Chesapeake slaveholders. It also alienated Virginians from a national government that had neglected their defense. Instead they turned south, their interests aligning more and more with their section. In 1820 Thomas Jefferson observed of sectionalism: "Like a firebell in the night [it] awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once the knell of the union." The notes of alarm in Jefferson's comment speak of the fear aroused by the recent crisis over slavery in his home state. His vision of a cataclysm to come proved prescient. Jefferson's startling observation registered a turn in the nation's course, a pivot from the national purpose of the founding toward the threat of disunion. Drawn from new sources, Alan Taylor's riveting narrative re-creates the events that inspired black Virginians, haunted slaveholders, and set the nation on a new and dangerous course.

Book Details

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publish Date: Sep 9th, 2013
Pages: 624
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 9.40in - 6.50in - 1.90in - 2.35lb
EAN: 9780393073713
Categories: • United States - Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)• United States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,• Slavery

About the Author

Taylor, Alan: - Alan Taylor, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history, is the author of American Revolutions and American Republics, prior volumes in his acclaimed continental history of the United States. He is professor emeritus of history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

A comprehensive, scholarly work, made accessible by Taylor's skill as a storyteller.--Kel Munger "Sacramento Bee"

Alan Taylor has added a remarkable chapter to American history, showing how the actions of black Virginians in the War of 1812 remade the nation's politics in ways that profoundly influenced the racialized lead-up to the Civil War. Taylor's meticulous research and crystal-clear prose make this essential reading for anyone seeking new insights into a troubled American past.--Elizabeth A. Fenn, author of Pox Americana

Impressively researched and beautifully crafted... Mr. Taylor has established himself as one of our leading historians of the Early Republic.--Mark M. Smith "The Wall Street Journal"

Remarkable... it's hard not to be dazzled by the ease with which Taylor moves from the lives of individual slaves, to the history of a large planter family, to the fault lines of Virginia politics, to the national debate over slavery in the western territories, out into the Atlantic world to the history of the British Empire.--James Oakes "Washington Post"