Table Of Content

Mastering Emotions AMERICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Series editors: Brian DeLay, Steven Hahn, Amy Dru Stanley America in the Nineteenth Century proposes a rigorous rethinking of this most formative period in U.S. history. Books in the series will be wide-r anging and eclectic, with an interest in politics at all levels, culture and capitalism, race and slavery, law, gender, and the environment, and regional and transnational history. The series aims to expand the scope of nineteenth- century historiography by bringing classic questions into dialogue with innovative perspectives, approaches, and methodologies. Mastering Emotions Feelings, Power, and Slavery in the United States Erin Austin Dwyer University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia Copyright © 2021 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104- 4112 www .upenn .edu /pennpress Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dwyer, Erin Austin, author. Title: Mastering emotions : feelings, power, and slavery in the United States / Erin Austin Dwyer. Other titles: America in the nineteenth century. Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2021] | Series: America in the nineteenth century | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021012062 | ISBN 9780812253399 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Slavery—Social aspects—Southern States—History— 19th century. | Emotions—Social aspects—United States—History—19th century. | Power (Social sciences)—United States—History—19th century. | Slaves—Southern States—Social conditions—19th century. | Slaveholders—Southern States— Social conditions—19th century. | Southern States—Social conditions— 19th century. | Southern States—Race relations—History—19th century. Classification: LCC E443 .D97 2021 | DDC 306.3/620973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021012062] To those who found their families in freedom, and to those who never stopped looking. Need I pause to show how this system of servitude . . . is interwoven with our entire social fabric? That these slaves form parts of our households? . . . Must I pause to show how it has fashioned our modes of life, and determined all our habits of thought and feeling? —Benjamin Palmer, New Orleans, Thanksgiving 1860 CONTENTS Introduction. The Emotional Politics of Slavery 1 Chapter 1. “To Change Their Sentiments” 14 Chapter 2. “Born and Reared in Slavery” 38 Chapter 3. “The Pursuit of Happiness” 71 Chapter 4. “Breach of Confidence” 103 Chapter 5. “Fear No Lash, nor Worse” 138 Chapter 6. “Enjoying Freedom” 161 Epilogue. “The Sentiment Left by Slavery Is Still with Us” 194 Notes 207 Selected Bibliography 263 Index 267 Acknowledgments 281