Slavery and Sectional Strife in the Early American Republic, 1776-1821 focuses on slavery as a moral and political issue that threatened the unity and stability of the United States from the nation's inception. In tracing the story of slavery in America's history from 1776 through the Missouri Compromise, Gary J. Kornblith highlights a number of important themes: the general acceptance of slavery in colonial America, the reevaluation of human bondage during the American Revolution, how decisions made by the Founding Fathers shaped the future of slavery in the new United States, and whether the Civil War was the inevitable result of those decisions. Students are encouraged to reach their own conclusions through reading key primary documents.

Section I: Slavery and Sectional Strife in the Early American Republic, 1776-1821: A Critical Narrative
Chapter 1: The Rise of Slavery in Colonial British America
Chapter 2: Imperial Crisis, Independence, and the Reevaluation of Slavery
Chapter 3: Revolutionary Outcomes: Early Abolition and its Limitations
Chapter 4: Slavery, Sectionalism, and the Federal Constitution
Chapter 5: A More Perfect Union? The Problems of Slavery and Sectionalism in the Redesigned Republic
Chapter 6: The War of 1812 and Era of Good Feelings
Chapter 7: The Missouri Crisis
Section II: Primary Documents
Chapter 8: Controversy Over Slavery on the Eve of Revolution
Chapter 9: The Spirit of 1776
Chapter 10: The Challenge to Slavery at the State Level
Chapter 11: The Spirit of 1787
Chapter 12: The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Federalism
Chapter 13: Federal Action against the Atlantic Slave Trade
Chapter 14: Proposals for the Colonization of Free Blacks
Chapter 15: The Missouri Crisis