Fifth Border State

Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829-1872
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-1-952271-71-7
Verlag: West Virginia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 379 g

Reihe: West Virginia & Appalachia

One of the first new interpretations of West Virginia’s origins in over a century—and one that corrects previous histories’ tendency to minimize support for slavery in the state’s founding.

Every history of West Virginia’s creation in 1863 explains the event in similar ways: at the start of the Civil War, political, social, cultural, and economic differences with eastern Virginia motivated the northwestern counties to resist secession from the Union and seek their independence from the rest of the state. In The Fifth Border State, Scott A. MacKenzie offers the first new interpretation of the topic in over a century—one that corrects earlier histories’ tendency to minimize support for slavery in the state’s founding.Employing previously unused sources and reexamining existing ones, MacKenzie argues that West Virginia experienced the Civil War in the same ways as the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. Like these northernmost slave states, northwestern Virginia supported the institution of slavery out of proportion to the actual presence of enslavement there. The people who became West Virginians built a new state first to protect slavery, but radical Unionists and escaping slaves forced emancipation on the statehood movement. MacKenzie shows how conservatives and radicals clashed over Black freedom, correcting many myths about West Virginia’s origins and making The Fifth Border State an important addition to the literature in Appalachian and Civil War history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

MacKenzie, Scott A

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Sklaverei
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historische Geographie, Landkarten & Atlanten
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Humangeographie Historische Geographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1. Northwestern Virginia’s Path towards Reconciliation, 1829–18512. Northwestern Virginia on the Defensive, 1851–1860 3. Northwestern Virginia in the Secession Crisis, January to July 1861 4. The Conservative Phase of the West Virginia Statehood Movement, August 1861 to February 18625. The Radical Phase of the West Virginia Statehood Movement, March 1862 to June 18636. West Virginia under Radical Rule, June 1863 to December 1869Epilogue: West Virginia Redeemed, 1870–1872Appendix A: An Appeal of the People of West Virginia to Congress, Suggesting for the Consideration of Members Material FactsAppendix B: Report of the Minority to Lincoln’s Border State Emancipation Plan, July 15, 1862Notes

Über Autor(innen)

Scott A. MacKenzie received his education at the University of Manitoba, Queens College of the City University of New York, the University of Calgary, and Auburn University. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.