Slavery and Sacred Texts - The Bible, Constitution, Historical Consciousness in Antebellum

Using the debate over American slavery as a case study, Jordan T. Watkins analyzes the development of historical consciousness in antebellum America, showing how Americans' appeal to the nations' sacred and religious texts - the Bible and the Constitution - gave rise to a growing sense of historical distance.

List of contents

Acknowledgements; Prologue; Introduction; 1. 'Recourse must be had to the history of those times'; 2. 'The ground will shake'; 3. 'Texts ... designed for local and temporary use'; 4. 'The further we recede from the birth of the constitution'; 5. 'The culture of cotton has healed its deadly wound'; 6. 'Times now are not as they were'; 7. 'We have to do not ... with the past, but the living present'; 8. A 'Modern crispus attucks'; Conclusion; Epilogue; Index.

About the author

Jordan T. Watkins is an assistant professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. Previously, he was a coeditor at The Joseph Smith Papers Project.

Product details

• Authors: Jordan T. Watkins, Jordan T. (Brigham Young University Watkins
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.03.2023
• EAN: 9781108746892
• ISBN: 978-1-108-74689-2
• No. of pages: 398
• Series: Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Law > General, dictionaries; USA, HISTORY / United States / 19th Century, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, History of Religion, Legal History, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Slavery & abolition of slavery, Slavery and abolition of slavery