While scholars of American history have written extensively about slave insurgency in the form of rebellion, William E. Wiethoff considers a more subtle form of resistance that caused considerable consternation among slave-holders -- that of insolence. Though he finds insolence to have been a rarely and carefully used "rhetoric of resistance, " Wiethoff also finds the practice to have been one to which slaveowners were especially sensitive and which they sought to prevent by legislative, social, moral, and commercial means.
In this original contribution to the study of seventeenth-,...
While scholars of American history have written extensively about slave insurgency in the form of rebellion, William E. Wiethoff considers a more subt...
The first book-length study of the overseer in four decades, Wiethoff's study bridges historical, legal, and rhetorical scholarship to present a provocative investigation into the multifaceted roles of this oft-forgotten figure in plantation society. Wiethoff canvasses the period from 1650 through 1865 and across a southern expanse that stretches to include the Upper and Deep South. Overseers left scant written evidence about their lives and times, but Wiethoff unearths characterizations constructed by friends and enemies, neighbors and strangers. He also mines the legal record to gauge the...
The first book-length study of the overseer in four decades, Wiethoff's study bridges historical, legal, and rhetorical scholarship to present a provo...
In early-nineteenth-century America, and especially in the Old South, the use of oratory appealed to legal professionals--judges as well as advocates. Consistent with the humanism proclaimed in classical and neoclassical works, appellate judges perceived their civic duties to demand oratorical skill as well as legal expertise. In "A Peculiar Humanism," William E. Wiethoff assesses the judicial use of oratory in reviewing slave cases and the struggle to fashion a humanist jurisprudence on slavery despite the customary restraints placed on judicial advocacy.
Drawing attention to a...
In early-nineteenth-century America, and especially in the Old South, the use of oratory appealed to legal professionals--judges as well as advocat...
