Foul Means

The Formation of a Slave Society in Virginia, 1660-1740

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Colonial Period (1600-1775), Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies
Cover of the book Foul Means by Anthony S. Parent, Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Anthony S. Parent ISBN: 9780807839133
Publisher: Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press Publication: December 1, 2012
Imprint: Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Anthony S. Parent
ISBN: 9780807839133
Publisher: Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press
Publication: December 1, 2012
Imprint: Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Challenging the generally accepted belief that the introduction of racial slavery to America was an unplanned consequence of a scarce labor market, Anthony Parent, Jr., contends that during a brief period spanning the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries a small but powerful planter class, acting to further its emerging economic interests, intentionally brought racial slavery to Virginia.

Parent bases his argument on three historical developments: the expropriation of Powhatan lands, the switch from indentured to slave labor, and the burgeoning tobacco trade. He argues that these were the result of calculated moves on the part of an emerging great planter class seeking to consolidate power through large landholdings and the labor to make them productive. To preserve their economic and social gains, this planter class inscribed racial slavery into law. The ensuing racial and class tensions led elite planters to mythologize their position as gentlemen of pastoral virtue immune to competition and corruption. To further this benevolent image, they implemented a plan to Christianize slaves and thereby render them submissive. According to Parent, by the 1720s the Virginia gentry projected a distinctive cultural ethos that buffered them from their uncertain hold on authority, threatened both by rising imperial control and by black resistance, which exploded in the Chesapeake Rebellion of 1730.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Challenging the generally accepted belief that the introduction of racial slavery to America was an unplanned consequence of a scarce labor market, Anthony Parent, Jr., contends that during a brief period spanning the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries a small but powerful planter class, acting to further its emerging economic interests, intentionally brought racial slavery to Virginia.

Parent bases his argument on three historical developments: the expropriation of Powhatan lands, the switch from indentured to slave labor, and the burgeoning tobacco trade. He argues that these were the result of calculated moves on the part of an emerging great planter class seeking to consolidate power through large landholdings and the labor to make them productive. To preserve their economic and social gains, this planter class inscribed racial slavery into law. The ensuing racial and class tensions led elite planters to mythologize their position as gentlemen of pastoral virtue immune to competition and corruption. To further this benevolent image, they implemented a plan to Christianize slaves and thereby render them submissive. According to Parent, by the 1720s the Virginia gentry projected a distinctive cultural ethos that buffered them from their uncertain hold on authority, threatened both by rising imperial control and by black resistance, which exploded in the Chesapeake Rebellion of 1730.

More books from Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Writing Captivity in the Early Modern Atlantic by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550-1624 by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book The Stamp Act Crisis by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book The Campaign for the Sugar Islands, 1759 by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Essays in the History of Early American Law by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Civil Tongues and Polite Letters in British America by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Beyond Confederation by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Fish into Wine by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book The Correspondence of John Cotton by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book An Anxious Pursuit by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Citizen Spectator by Anthony S. Parent
Cover of the book Darkness Falls on the Land of Light by Anthony S. Parent
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy