Thomas Jefferson and the Fight against Slavery Stevens Hardback 9780700635979

Thomas Jefferson and the Fight Against SlaveryAuthor(s): Cara Rogers Stevens\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University Press of Kansas, United States\nImprint: University Press of Kansas\nISBN-13: 9780700635979, 978-0700635979\nSynopsis\nIn this groundbreaking work, Cara Rogers Stevens examines the fascinating life of Thomas Jeffersons book, Notes on the State of Virginia, from its innocuous composition in the early 1780s to its use as a political weapon by both pro- and antislavery forces in the early nineteenth century. Initially written as a brief statistical introduction to Virginia for French readers, Jeffersons book evolved to become his comprehensive statement on almost all facets of the state's natural and political realms. As part of an antislavery education strategy, Jefferson also decided to include a treatise on the nature of racial difference, as well as a manifesto on the corrupting power of slavery in a republic and a plan for emancipation and colonization. In consequen.