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Article: Wills, Garry "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- History: Review of New Books
- Article date:
- March 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Wills, Garry "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company 274 pp., $25.00, ISBN 0-618-34398-9 Publication Date: October 2003
In January 1801, a Boston newspaper printed that Thomas Jefferson "rode into the Temple of Liberty on the shoulders of slaves." His presidential victory in 1800--decided when the House of Representatives broke the tie vote with Aaron Burr--included at least twelve electoral votes derived from slaves owned by Southern masters. Jefferson's reliance on those votes prompted Federalist critic Timothy Pickering to offer the sobriquet, "Negro President," to describe the slave margin that provided the victory.
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