John Adams, Slavery, and Race

by Arthur Scherr (Author)

Providing the first full investigation of second U.S. president John Adams' attitudes toward slavery, blacks, and the Haitian Revolution, this iconoclastic study illuminates the inner and outer worlds of Adams for scholars and general readers.

• Supplies a knowledge of John Adams' views―information that reveals him as hardly a paragon in matters of racial equality―that will facilitate a more realistic appraisal of early American culture, politics, and diplomacy at a time when the dogma of "American exceptionalism" is under attack at U.S. universities and in the media

• Fills a major gap in our collective knowledge of Adams, a seminal figure in American history, correcting scholars' false assumptions, exposing flawed research, and disclosing a "darker side" of the great second U.S. president

• Reveals the real reasons John Adams assisted Toussaint Louverture and his black rebels in the Haitian Revolution

Review
"A lucid and thoroughly researched book on John Adams's position on one of the most important political and moral issues of American life. No future scholar will be able to write on Adams and slavery without consulting this book." (Jerold Waltman, R.W. Morrison Professor of Political Science, Baylor University)

"In this book, Scherr claims boldly that much of what we know of John Adams by today's historians is the result of 'Federalist chic,' not scrutiny of the facts concerning Adams's words and deeds. Adams's views on slavery and race are much neglected or understudied subjects. Scherr here offers a critical corrective, audacious and fact-based, to today's hagiographical depictions. This outstanding study will certainly force readers to rethink the image of Adams we are today spoon-fed by many authors, who seem to write history prejudicially, not veridically." (M. Andrew Holowchak, PhD, Philosopher and Historian, Editor of Journal of Thomas Jefferson's Life and Times)

About the Author
Arthur Scherr, PhD, teaches history at the City University of New York.



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