River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom

561 Pages·2013·2.804 MB·English

by  Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson
R I VE R
of
DAR K
DR E A M S
Slavery and Empire in the
Cotton Kingdom
river of dark dreams

RIVER
of
DARK
DREAMS
Slavery and Empire
in the Cotton Kingdom
Walter Johnson
the belknap press of
harvard university press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, Eng land
2013
Copyright © 2013 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Johnson, Walter, 1967–
River of dark dreams : slavery and empire in the cotton kingdom / Walter Johnson.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 04555- 2 (alkaline paper)
1. Slavery—Mississippi River Valley—Hist ory—19th century. 2. Cotton growing—Mississippi River
Valley—Hist ory—19th century. 3. Slavery—Economic aspects—Mississippi River Valley—History—
19th century. 4. Cap italism—Mississippi River Valley—History—19th century. 5. Social change—
Mississippi River Valley—History—19th century. 6. Mississippi River Valley—Race relations—
History—19th century. 7. Mississippi River Valley—Commerce—His tory—19th century. 8. United
States—Territorial expansion—His tory—19th century. 9. Imperialism—His tory—19th
century. 10. Slave trade—His tory—19th century. I. Title.
E449.J695 2013
305.800977—dc23 2012030065
For Alison,
my morning star

Contents
Introduction: Boom 1
1 Jeffersonian Visions and Nightmares in Louisiana 18
2 The Panic of 1835 46
3 The Steamboat Sublime 73
4 Limits to Capi tal 97
5 The Runaway’s River 126
6 Dominion 151
7 “The Empire of the White Man’s Will” 176
8 The Carceral Landscape 209
9 The Mississippi Valley in the Time of Cotton 244
10 Cap ital, Cotton, and Free Trade 280
11 Tales of Mississippian Empire 303
12 The Material Limits of “Manifest Destiny” 330
13 “The Grey-E yed Man of Destiny” 366
14 The Ignominious Effort to Reopen the Slave Trade 395
Notes 423
Acknowledgments 509
Index 515

He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities;
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
—Isaiah 53:5