By examining how ordinary Virginia citizens grappled with the vexing problem of slavery in a society dedicated to universal liberty, Eva Sheppard Wolf broadens our understanding of such concepts as freedom, slavery, emancipation, and race in the early years of the American republic. She frames her study around the moment between slavery and liberty -- emancipation -- shedding new light on the complicated relations between whites and blacks in a slave society.
This well-informed and carefully crafted book outlines important and heretofore rarely examined changes in whites' views of blacks and liberty in the new nation. Combining a study of manumission documents with an investigation of the shifting public discussions over slavery, Race and Liberty in the New Nation demonstrates that the high point of antislavery sentiment in Virginia occurred during the 1830s and not the Revolutionary period. At the same time, it shows how white Virginians' attitudes toward blacks hardened during the half-century that followed the declaration that "all men are created equal."

Eva Sheppard Wolf is an associate professor of history at San Francisco State University.