Guest Post: The Constitution, Slavery, and the Problem of Agency

September 17, 2015 By Tom Cutterham in Commentary, Guest Posts Tags: Constitution, Opinion, Sean Wilentz, Slavery 47 Comments

Today we feature a guest post by Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf), Professor of History and Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. His scholarship has appeared in the Journal of the Early Republic, Ohio History, and several edited volumes. He is currently writing a continental history of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Sean Wilentz’s op-ed in Wednesday’s New York Times was by turns baffling, infuriating, and sad. At its root, the essay is a narrow, technical argument trying to disguise itself as an overarching Big Answer to Important Questions. Wilentz claims “the myth that the United States was founded on racial slavery”—a myth embraced “notably among scholars and activists on the left”—is actually “one of the most destructive falsehoods in all of American history.” Continue reading →

The Week in Early American History

September 21, 2014 By Christopher Jones in The Week in Early American History Tags: academia, AP US History, Benjamin Franklin, Constitution, Constitution Day, maps, Presidents Park, Scotland, Sean Wilentz, war memorial, War of 1812 2 Comments

TWEAH Constitution Day Edition.

How did you celebrate Constitution Day on Wednesday? If you’re a politician on Capitol Hill, and didn’t answer either “by showing off my pocket-sized edition” or “standing near an oversized facsimile of my favorite amendment with text selectively crossed out to illustrate the imagined dangers posed by my political opponents,” then shame on you. Speaking of those pocket-sized editions, the Washington Post profiled Zeldon Nelson, the Idaho farmer and chief executive of the National Center for Constitutional Studies who sells them for just over a dollar a piece. Continue reading →

The Week in Early American History

March 10, 2013 By Jonathan Wilson in The Week in Early American History Tags: Abraham Lincoln, antiques, Colonial Williamsburg, Cracker Barrel, Freedom Trail, Harold Holzer, James Oakes, liberalism, natural law, New-York Historical Society, pamphlets, Readex, religion, Sean Wilentz, Slavery, Tony Kushner, University of Virginia Leave a comment

This week brings a rich harvest of material on slavery, memory, and public history.

First, we have two fascinating filmed conversations. At the Graduate Center at CUNY, James Oakes talks to Sean Wilentz about his new book, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865. And at the New-York Historical Society, Harold Holzer speaks with Tony Kushner on the subject of Lincoln (and, of course, Lincoln).

Next, we take a look into slavery at Jefferson’s university. In an article in University of Virginia Magazine and a blogpost for Encyclopedia Virginia, Brendan Wolfe contextualizes a recent archaeological discovery.

In the Washington Post, meanwhile, J. Freedom du Lac reports on Colonial Williamsburg’s difficulty recruiting slave interpreters. And how did 19th-century African American portray their own emancipations? Good interviews Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer about their photographic history.

Continue reading →