Race to the Frontier: "White Flight" and Westward ExpansionWhy did so many thousands of settlers pull up stakes and undertake the arduous journey to the frontier in 18th and 19th century America? While the desire for a more prosperous future figured prominently in their decisions, so did another, largely overlooked factor -- the presence of slavery and the growing number of blacks, both free and slave, in the eastern half of the United States. Poor white farmers, particularly those in the Upper South, found themselves displaced by the spreading of the plantation system. In order to survive economically they were chronically forced to move further inland. As they did so, they brought with them a deep animosity toward the enslaved blacks whom they blamed for this uprooting. Wherever these "plain folk" farmers subsequently settled -- in Kentucky, the free states north of the Ohio River, Missouri and the outpost of Oregon, they sought to erect legal barriers to prevent slavery from taking hold as well as to deter the migration of free blacks who would otherwise compete for jobs and endanger white society. The pushing back of the frontier can be seen as an attempt to escape the complexities of a biracial nation and preserve white homogeneity by creating sanctuaries in these Western lands. The political struggle to establish more free states west of the Mississippi also reflects this goal: white nominally opposed to slavery, many "free staters" were most concerned about keeping all blacks at bay. Race to the Frontier is the first book to trace the impact of this racial hostility throughout the settlement of the West, from the days of colonial Virginia up to the Civil War. It clearly demonstrates how closely racial prejudice, economic growth and geographical expansion have been entwined in American history |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
| 39 | |
III Bluegrass Black Dominance | 65 |
IV White Flight Across the Ohio | 103 |
V Holding the Color Line in the Old Northwest | 139 |
VI Racial Strife Crosses the Mississippi | 175 |
VII The Politics of Exclusion | 215 |
Table of Contents | 349 |
Introduction | 1 |
I White Negroes in the Tidewater | 7 |
II Running for the Virginia Hills | 39 |
III Bluegrass Black Dominance | 65 |
IV White Flight Across the Ohio | 103 |
V Holding the Color Line in the Old Northwest | 139 |
VI Racial Strife Crosses the Mississippi | 175 |
VIII Manifest Necessity | 255 |
Epilogue | 289 |
Selected Bibliography | 307 |
Index | 335 |
Acknowledgements | 347 |
VII The Politics of Exclusion | 215 |
VIII Manifest Necessity | 255 |
Epilogue | 289 |
| 307 | |
| 335 | |
Other editions - View all
Race to the Frontier: "White Flight" and Westward Expansion John Van Houten Dippel Limited preview - 2005 |
Race to the Frontier: "White Flight" and Westward Expansion John Van Houten Dippel Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionist acres agricultural American American Colonization Society anti-black antislavery backcountry black freemen Bluegrass Burnett Carolina census century chattel system Chesapeake Civil Clay colonists Congress constitutional convention cotton counties decades delegates Democratic early economic emancipation families former slaves free black population Free Soil Free Soil party freedom frontier historian Historical Quarterly History Illinois increased indentured indentured servants Indiana Iowa James Jefferson John Kentucky land large numbers laws Lincoln living majority Manifest Destiny migration Mississippi move mulattoes natives Negro non-slaveholding North Northern Northwest Ordinance number of slaves Ohio River Old Northwest Oregon owners party peculiar institution percent Piedmont pioneers plantations planters political Proviso Quoted race racial region Republican residents Senate servants settled settlement settlers slave labor slave system slaveholders slavery small farmers social Society South Southern state’s territory Tidewater tion tobacco University Press Valley vote voters West Western westward white population William Wilmot Wilmot Proviso yeoman farmers York