Reconfiguring the Old South: "Solving" the Problem of Slavery, 1787-1838.

The article discusses the social processes involved in making slavery an acceptable institution in the Southern U.S. The article examines the efforts of politicians, intellectuals, and opinion makers in order to explore the complex and diverse forces that formed white society in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Topics discussed include anti-abolitionist efforts in the 1830s, the formation of the Articles of Confederation and its relation to the slave trade, southern efforts towards emancipation, slave insurrections, and the effect of the Louisiana Purchase on the expansion of slavery. Details are provided regarding the social aspects of the cotton trade and its effect on the slave market, along with the political work of politicians Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason.