M. Scott Heerman. The Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country, 1730–1865.

Abstract

Article 6 of the Northwest Ordinance famously stated, “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the [Northwest] territory.” Initially, historians questioned the motives behind the insertion of this clause. After all, if the U.S. Constitution contained several provisions that explicitly protected slavery, why would those same leaders accept the creation of such a large swath of ostensibly free territory? Other historians have questioned the meaning and strength of such a vaguely worded clause. Most notably, Paul Finkelman argued that territorial officials found every possible means to thwart the antislavery potential of the ordinance. In contrast, others have observed that south of the Ohio River, slavery rapidly expanded in Kentucky, whereas north of the river, slavery failed to take hold. Thus while the ordinance did not lead to immediate emancipation, it made gradual emancipation possible. Enter M. Scott Heerman and his book The Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country, 1730–1865. In his long analysis of the Illinois Country, Heerman makes the argument that context matters because emancipation in the region was never guaranteed. Heerman calls his “a tale of alchemy that traces the ins and outs of slavery’s nearly perpetual reinvention” (7). Heerman argues that while the plantation complex never developed in Illinois, slavery was still central to the development of the region. Much like others have argued about the development of slavery in Missouri, Kentucky, and the mountain South, Heerman points out that even small-scale slavery can have a large influence. In turn, the perpetual reinvention of slavery meant that antislavery practices were always rooted in particular contexts. Thus, “at each moment in this history, enslaved people had powers and allies of their own that they could summon to make their own alchemy, helping to turn Illinois from a society dedicated to slavery into one committed to its abolition” (7).