River of dark dreams : slavery and empire in the cotton kingdom
(Book)
Author
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
Format
Book
ISBN
9780674045552, 0674045556
Physical Desc
526 pages ; 25 cm
Status
Staff View
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Description
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More Details
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
Language
English
ISBN
9780674045552, 0674045556
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-508) and index.
Description
This work looks at the history of the Mississippi River Valley in the nineteenth century and the economy that developed there, powered by steam engines and slave labor. When Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Territory, he envisioned an "empire for liberty" populated by self-sufficient white farmers. Cleared of Native Americans and the remnants of European empires by Andrew Jackson, the Mississippi Valley was transformed instead into a booming capitalist economy commanded by wealthy planters, powered by steam engines, and dependent on the coerced labor of slaves. This book places the Cotton Kingdom at the center of worldwide webs of exchange and exploitation that extended across oceans and drove an insatiable hunger for new lands. This bold reaccounting dramatically alters our understanding of American slavery and its role in U.S. expansionism, global capitalism, and the upcoming Civil War. Here the author traces the connections between the planters' pro-slavery ideology, Atlantic commodity markets, and Southern schemes for global ascendency. Using slave narratives, popular literature, legal records, and personal correspondence, he recreates the harrowing details of daily life under cotton's dark dominion. We meet the confidence men and gamblers who made the Valley shimmer with promise, the slave dealers, steamboat captains, and merchants who supplied the markets, the planters who wrung their civilization out of the minds and bodies of their human property, and the true believers who threatened the Union by trying to expand the Cotton Kingdom on a global scale. But at the center of the story the author tells are the enslaved people who pulled down the forests, planted the fields, picked the cotton, who labored, suffered, and resisted on the dark underside of the American dream.
Subjects
LC Subjects
Capitalism -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Cotton growing -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Imperialism -- History -- 19th century.
Mississippi River Valley -- Commerce -- History -- 19th century.
Mississippi River Valley -- Race relations -- History -- 19th century.
Slave trade -- History -- 19th century.
Slavery -- Economic aspects -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Slavery -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Social change -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
United States -- Territorial expansion -- History -- 19th century.
Cotton growing -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Imperialism -- History -- 19th century.
Mississippi River Valley -- Commerce -- History -- 19th century.
Mississippi River Valley -- Race relations -- History -- 19th century.
Slave trade -- History -- 19th century.
Slavery -- Economic aspects -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Slavery -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
Social change -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.
United States -- Territorial expansion -- History -- 19th century.
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Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Johnson, W. (2013). River of dark dreams: slavery and empire in the cotton kingdom . Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Johnson, Walter, 1967-. 2013. River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Johnson, Walter, 1967-. River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Johnson, Walter. River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.