American Slavery/American Freedom describes the economy and political organization of colonial Virginia. The argument boils down to: 1. The non-productive poor were viewed as expendable anyway, and it took just a little racialization to shift a servant-based economy to a slave-based one, 2. Taking the dependent class out of the political landscape allowed the upper class to advocate for freedom and equality without risk of a French-style insurrection, or a political system based on bribery and coercion of the poor. Most of this argument is in the last chapter, but the story of the appalling death rate in the early colony, the development of the tobacco industry and the rapacious early nouveau riche keep you reading until it's all wrapped up nicely.

Morgan writes fantastic history. His thematic organization and seamless integration of source material into the text are eminently readable. None of the book seems dated, although it was written in the 70s. ( )

This award-winning book, first published in 1975, is a detailed account of the “ordeal of colonial Virginia." Morgan traces Virginia's history from the failed colonization attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh and others in the late 16th century to the calamity-filled founding of Jamestown in the early 17th century, to the firm establishment of slavery by the third quarter of that century, and finally, to the slaveholding Patriots on the eve of the American Revolution.

The author’s thesis is that the Virginia colonists’ quest for freedom ironically provided the fertile soil in which slavery could take root and thrive. He painstakingly presents the evidence to prove how this could be. The book is fairly “academic” and heavily footnoted, and occasionally devotes too much space to historical minutiae for my taste. It is, however, a fascinating account any student of early American history and the history of American slavery should read. ( )

Must read for Old South and Colonial Graduate history classes ( )