Book Talk with Nancy Spannaus

The revolutionary British American colonies and the young United States were the centers of the most vigorous anti-slavery activity in the world. Yet, chattel slavery persisted well into the 19th century and eventually was the major cause of a bloody Civil War, whose consequences still shape American politics today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented?

In her 2023 book, Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way, public historian Nancy Spannaus argues that the crucial factor was the abandonment of the economic principles of Alexander Hamilton. Spannaus will address both the early history of American abolitionism and how it might have been fulfilled without a civil war in her book talk on September 26 at the Loudoun Museum.