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Sto caricando le informazioni... The First Emancipator; The Forgotten Story of Robert Carter the Founding Father Who Freed His Slaves (2005)di Andrew Levy
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. In the past I have provided three-star ratings for other books simply based primarily on research; that is why I do so for The First Emancipator. There is no lack of information offered by Andrew Levy. Unfortunately, the trivial coverage and plodding text of this book became too tedious for me to plow through. And to no fault of the author, the generations of Carters discussed became too confusing. I would like to think - hope - I was just not "jiving" with Mr. Levy's writing style. As a note to this "review," I only made it to page 29. In the future I may take another crack at this book, the story seems in way uninteresting and something to be proud of in America's history. Should I continue to read The First Emancipator, I will amend this review. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Robert Carter III was born into the highest circles of Virginia's Colonial aristocracy, neighbor and kin to the Washingtons and Lees and a friend and peer to Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. But in 1791, Carter severed his ties with this elite at the stroke of a pen. Having gradually grown to feel that what he possessed was not truly his, clashing repeatedly with his neighbors, his friends, government officials, and, most poignantly, his own family, he set free nearly five hundred slaves in the largest single act of liberation in the history of American slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation. How did Carter succeed in what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson claimed they fervently desired but were powerless to effect? And why has his name all but vanished from the annals of American history? In this vivid book, Andrew Levy traces the confluence of circumstance, conviction, war, and passion that led to Carter's extraordinary act. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)973.3History and Geography North America United States Revolution and confederation (1775-89)Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
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Like many aristocrats of his time, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Carter was educated in Enlightenment principles and kept good records of his actions. However, unlike these two other leaders, Carter was not a political leader publicly using high rhetoric to espouse an egalitarian age while swallowing the uncomfortable pill of private slavery. Instead, Carter freed his slaves in the largest emancipation before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. He did so explicitly because he found American rhetoric about universal freedom was not supported by popular practice.
These convictions were buttressed by Carter’s devoutly religious practices. Though an aristocrat invested in the current order, he converted to the Baptist faith around the time of the Revolutionary War. In Baptist churches, he was placed on equal footing with social outcasts and developed an egalitarian social view. He did not leverage equality as an ideal to gain political power, though, unlike others. Instead, as Levy carefully documents with copious references to Carter’s papers, his views slowly morphed over time.
Because of a reversion to conservative living after the Revolution, the Baptists and popular American views fell out of favor in Carter’s mind. He later converted to the Swedenborgian faith, which further called principles of equality to mind. He put practice first and rhetoric second – an example for chattering political classes of today. Yet Carter is not remembered in American history. Perhaps this omission is because of America’s unresolved tensions pertaining to race continuing through the Civil War, the Klan, Jim Crow, and to this day.
Levy’s biography seeks to remember Robert Carter and inspire readers to put practice ahead of rhetoric, not the other way around. Those attentive to American history should remember Carter’s more muted stand. Most Americans do not have great platforms to share their eloquent views with the masses; most of us resemble Robert Carter more than Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. Shouldn’t this man’s place in history push us to lead our own “quiet revolutions?” ( )