Democratic Discourses: The Radical Abolition Movement And Antebellum American Literature

239 Pages·2005·1.01 MB·English

by  Michael Bennett

Democratic Discourses

% Democratic Discourses
The Radical Abolition
Movement and Antebellum
American Literature
Michael Bennett
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick,New Jersey,and London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bennett,Michael,1962–
Democratic discourses :the radical abolition movement and antebellum American liter-
ature / Michael Bennett.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–8135–3572–7 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0–8135–3573–5 (pbk. : alk.
paper)
1.American literature—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Slavery in literature.
3.American literature—African American authors—History and criticism. 4. Politics
and literature—United States—History—19th century. 5. Literature and society—
United States—History—19th century.6.Radicalism—United States—History—19th
century.7.African Americans—Intellectual life—19th century.8.Abolitionists—United
States—Intellectual life.9.Antislavery movements in literature.10.African Americans in
literature.11.Radicalism in literature.I.Title.
PS217.S55B46 2005
810.9’3552—dc22
2004016423
British Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available
from the British Library.
Copyright © 2005 by Michael Bennett
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,elec-
tronic or mechanical,or by any information storage and retrieval system,without writ-
ten permission from the publisher.Please contact Rutgers University Press,100 Joyce
Kilmer Avenue,Piscataway,NJ 08854-8099.The only exception to this prohibition is
“fair use”as defined by U.S.copyright law.
Manufactured in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to my parents,
Margery Harder Bennett and Edward Bennett.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Democratic Discourses:
Visiting the National Anti-Slavery Bazaar 18
2 Bodily Democracy:
Frances Ellen Watkins and Walt Whitman Sing the
Body Electric 45
3 Gender Democracy:
Margaret Fuller and Sojourner Truth Argue the Case
of Woman versus Women 67
4 Economic Democracy:
Frederick Douglass and Henry David Thoreau Negotiate
the Mason-Dixon Line 90
5 Aesthetic Democracy:
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Jacobs Represent
the End(s) of Slavery 118
Conclusion 149
Notes 161
Works Cited 179
Index 199
vii

Acknowledgments
IWOULD LIKE to acknowledge all those who have made this book possible:
my grandmother,Mildred Harder,without whom I quite literally would
not be here;
my parents, to whom this book is dedicated, Edward Bennett and
Margery Harder Bennett,who helped me get here not only in a biological
sense but also through their much-appreciated emotional and financial sup-
port,not to mention how they generously made available their trained his-
torical imaginations and proofreading abilities;
mypartners,Phyllis Hunt,whose dedication and love made it possible for
me to start this project,and Juan Battle,who combines the patience and per-
sistence,toughness and caring,down-to-earthness and magic,that enabled me
to finish it (“in other words,I love you”);
my dissertation director,Deborah E.McDowell,who has had the single
greatest impact on this project by reading and commenting in depth and
detail on its various incarnations, whose precision of thought and style
informs every page,and who is simply the smartest person I know;the staff
and faculty of the University of Virginia, Ruth Estep, Peggy Gibson,Alan
Howard, Bill Jackson, Adria LaViolette, Nancy Mazzei, the late Armstead
Robinson,Mary Rose,Charles Rowell,Rosemary Sheuchenko,Joy Shiflette,
Gail Shirley,and,particularly,Eric Lott,whose breadth of knowledge helped
extend my perception;
my colleagues from graduate school, Bluford Adams, David Bass,
Matthew Crane,Susan Gennrich Crane,Kelly Cresap,Elisabeth Crocker,Alan
DeGooyer, Michael Friel, Catherine Villanueva Gardner (thanks, Mom!),
Charles Harmon,Jean Kane,Ann Ryan,Mason Stokes (who should be singled
out for,among other things,sharing his knowledge about “whiteness studies”
and providing a critique of the first chapter),David Teague,“Papa”Luis Vil-
lanueva,Janna Wilson,Doris Witt,the Marxist phalanx,and numerous others;
my students and colleagues at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Cam-
pus,including the various participants in my graduate seminars—Nineteenth-
century American Literature, Slavery and the Literary Imagination, and
American Nature Writing—and undergraduate surveys on Literature in the
ix