Jefferson's freeholders and the politics of ownership in the Old Dominion / / Christopher Michael Curtis [[electronic resource]]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910790341103321
• Autore: Curtis Christopher Michael
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012
• ISBN: 1-139-36619-X; 1-107-23067-5; 1-280-87799-5; 1-139-37875-9; 9786613719300; 1-139-08415-1; 1-139-37589-X; 1-139-38018-4; 1-139-37190-8; 1-139-37732-9
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xiii, 255 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)
• Collana: Cambridge studies on the American South
• Disciplina: 975.5/03
• Soggetti: Slavery - Political aspects - Virginia - History - 19th century; Slaveholders - Political activity - Virginia - History - 19th century; Land tenure - Political aspects - Virginia - History - 19th century; Common law - Virginia - History - 19th century; Virginia Politics and government 1775-1865; Virginia Economic conditions 19th century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: The tragedy of ownership -- Taking notice of an error -- The chosen people of God -- An invidious and anti-Republican test -- Can these be the sons of their fathers? -- Doubt seems to have arisen -- A new system of jurisprudence -- The reaction against allodial ownership.
• Sommario/riassunto: Jefferson's Freeholders and the Politics of Ownership in the Old Dominion explores the historical processes by which Virginia was transformed from a British colony into a Southern slave state. It focuses ; on changing conceptualizations of ownership and emphasizes the persistent influence of the English common law on Virginia's postcolonial political culture. The book explains how the traditional characteristics of land tenure became subverted by the dynamic contractual relations of a commercial economy and assesses the political consequences of the law reforms that were necessitated by these developments. Nineteenth-century reforms seeking to reconcile the common law with modern commercial practices embraced new democratic expressions about the economic and political power of labor, and thereby encouraged the idea that slavery was an essential element in sustaining republican government in Virginia. By the 1850s, the ownership of human property had replaced the ownership of land as the distinguishing basis for political power, with tragic consequences for the Old Dominion.