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005			20211104082732.0
008			030414s2003 nyuab b 001 0beng d
010			_a 2002074852
011			_aBIB MATCHES WORLDCAT
020			_a0195157354 _qacid-free paper
020			_a9780195157352 _qacid-free paper
035			_a(ATU)b10918176
035			_a(DLC) 2002074852
035			_a(OCoLC)50064690
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _dATU
050	0	0	_aE417 _b.D87 2003
082	0	0	_a973.61092 _221
100	1		_aDusinberre, William, _d1930- _eauthor. _9417932
245	1	0	_aSlavemaster president : _bthe double career of James Polk / _cWilliam Dusinberre.
264		1	_aNew York : _bOxford University Press, _c2003.
300			_axiv, 258 pages : _billustrations, map ; _c25 cm
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 245-252) and index.
520	1		_a"James Polk was president of the United States from 1845 to 1849, a time when slavery began to dominate American politics. Polk's presidency coincided with the eruption of the territorial slavery issue, which within a few years would lead to the catastrophe of the Civil War." "Polk himself owned substantial cotton plantations - in Tennessee and later in Mississippi - and some fifty slaves. Unlike many antebellum planters who portrayed their involvement with slavery as a historical burden bestowed onto them by their ancestors, Polk entered the slave business of his own volition, for reasons principally of financial self-interest. Drawing on previously unexplored records, Slavemaster President recreates the world of Polk's Mississippi plantation and the personal histories of his slaves, in what is arguably the most careful and vivid account to date of how slavery functioned on a single cotton plantation. Life at the Polk estate was brutal and often short. Fewer than one in two slave children lived to the age of fifteen, a child mortality rate even higher than that on the average plantation. A steady stream of slaves temporarily fled the plantation throughout Polk's tenure as absentee slavemaster. Yet Polk was in some respects an enlightened owner, instituting an unusual incentive plan for his slaves and granting extensive privileges to his most favored slave." "Startlingly, Dusinberre shows how Polk sought to hide from public knowledge the fact that, while he was president, he was secretly buying as many slaves as his plantation revenues permitted. Shortly before his sudden death from cholera, the president quietly drafted a new will, in which he expressed the hope that his slaves might be freed - but only after he and his wife were both dead. The very next day, he authorized the purchase, in strictest secrecy, of six more very young slaves." "By contrast with Senator John C. Calhoun, President Polk has been seen as a moderate Southern Democratic leader. But Dusinberre suggests that the president's political stance toward slavery - influenced as it was by his deep personal involvement in the plantation system - may actually have helped precipitate the Civil War that Polk sought to avoid."--BOOK JACKET.
588			_aMachine converted from AACR2 source record.
600	1	0	_aPolk, James K. _q(James Knox), _d1795-1849 _9417933
600	1	0	_aPolk, James K. _q(James Knox), _d1795-1849 _xViews on slavery.
600	1	0	_aPolk, James K. _q(James Knox), _d1795-1849 _xRelations with slaves.
650		0	_aPresidents _zUnited States _vBiography _9345303
650		0	_aPlantation owners _zTennessee _vBiography _9647542
650		0	_aPlantation owners _zMississippi _vBiography _9647551
650		0	_aSlavery _zTennessee _xHistory _y19th century.
650		0	_aSlavery _zMississippi _xHistory _y19th century.
856	4	1	_3Table of contents _uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy036/2002074852.html
907			_a.b10918176 _b10-06-19 _c27-10-15
998			_a(3)b _a(3)c _b06-04-16 _cm _da _feng _gnyu _h0
945			_a973.61092 POL _g1 _iA262116B _j0 _lcmain _o- _p$0.00 _q- _r- _s- _t0 _u1 _v0 _w0 _x0 _y.i12114303 _z29-10-15
942			_cB
999			_c1152847 _d1152847