All Honor to Jefferson?
The Virginia Slavery Debates and the Positive Good Thesis

The debate over emancipation in 1829-32 Virginia set the solidified the peculiar institution in the country. This book articulates the success of the pro-slave interests in these debates that paved the way for the development of the positive good thesis.

During this convention there was an attack on natural rights that set the stage for the next great deliberation over slavery. Second, they explicitly discussed ending slavery in the House of Delegates after the Nat Turner insurrection in 1831-32. The Delegates of the day rejected the emancipation of the slaves as a moral and political necessity. Virginians had the opportunity to place slavery on the road to gradual extinction. They had an opportunity to reaffirm the principles of liberty, but ultimately that argument lost. The forces of self-interest defeated those who articulated the principles of the Declaration of Independence. This was solidified when Thomas Roderick Dew wrote his review of the debates in the House of Delegates. As a result of his arguments, the pro-slavery argument proceeded apace in Virginia with Dew being instrument

Chapter 1 Acknowledgements Chapter 2 1 Introduction Chapter 3 2 Early Anti-Slavery Efforts Chapter 4 3 Jefferson, Virginia, and the Founders Chapter 5 4 The Tide Begins to Turn: The Virginia Consitutional Convention of 1829-1830 and the Attack on Natural Rights Chapter 6 5 Firebell in the Night: Natural Rights Abandoned Chapter 7 6 Toward Perpetual Slavery: The Virginia Slavery Debate of 1831-1832 Chapter 8 7 The Proslavery Argument Revisited: Thomas Roderick Dew and the Beginning of the Positive Good Thesis Chapter 9 8 Conclusion: Virginia and the Positive Good Thesis Chapter 10 Bibliography