{"product_id":"mr-jeffersons-lost-cause-land-farmers-slavery-and-the-louisiana-purchase-9780195176070","title":"Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase","description":"Thomas Jefferson advocated a republic of small farmers--free and independent yeomen. And yet as president he presided over a massive expansion of the slaveholding plantation system, particularly with the Louisiana Purchase, squeezing the yeomanry to the fringes and to less desirable farmland. Now Roger G. Kennedy conducts an eye-opening examination of the gap between Jefferson's stated aspirations and what actually happened. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Kennedy reveals how the Louisiana Purchase had a major impact on land use and the growth of slavery. He examines the great financial interests (such as the powerful land companies that speculated in new territories and the British textile interests) that beat down slavery's many opponents in the South itself (Native Americans, African Americans, Appalachian farmers, and conscientious opponents of slavery). He describes how slaveholders' cash crops--first tobacco, then cotton--sickened the soil and how the planters moved from one desolated tract to the next. Soon the dominant culture of the entire region--from Maryland to Florida, from Carolina to Texas--was that of owners and slaves producing staple crops for international markets. The earth itself was impoverished, in many places beyond redemption. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e None of this, Kennedy argues, was inevitable. He focuses on the character, ideas, and ambitions of Thomas Jefferson to show how he and other Southerners struggled with the moral dilemmas presented by the presence of Indian farmers on land they coveted, by the enslavement of their workforce, by the betrayal of their stated hopes, and by the manifest damage being done to the earth itself. Jefferson emerges as a tragic figure in a tragic period. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eMr. Jefferson's Lost Cause\u003c\/em\u003e was a \u003cem\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/em\u003e Outstanding Academic Title for 2003.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Roger G. Kennedy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/07\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 376\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.18lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.34w x 0.98d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195176070\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooks \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2004 pg. 31\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoger Kennedy\u003c\/strong\u003e is Director Emeritus of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and a past Director of the National Park Service. He has had a long and distinguished career in public service during which he has served six presidents. His books include \u003cem\u003eBurr, Hamilton, and\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eJefferson\u003c\/em\u003e and (as general editor and contributor) the twelve-volume \u003cem\u003eSmithsonian Guide to Historic America\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40679854833779,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":44.72,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_1aed8898-19f2-4227-a59f-e23f786d2282.jpg?v=1674661689","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/mr-jeffersons-lost-cause-land-farmers-slavery-and-the-louisiana-purchase-9780195176070","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}