American Slave Trade

Torrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 154K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.American Slave Trade by active 1787-1834 Jesse TorreyAuthor: Torrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834,Language: English, Class: E300: History: America: Revolution to the Civil War (1783-1861), Release Date: Apr 19, 2010

Editor's review

Written by Jesse Torrey, this book is a historical document from the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War, made available as a free English ebook by Project Gutenberg. Judging from its title and classification, it addresses the major historical issue of the American slave trade and bears the distinct character of a period document. As an early abolitionist-related text, its value lies in showing how people of the time observed, debated, and recorded the slave trade, allowing history students to understand the context of American debate over slavery around the nineteenth century. Readers should note the author's standpoint and the era of writing, and treat it as a historical source rather than a modern general history. It is suitable for reading alongside American history courses or special topics on the abolitionist movement, helping readers understand the expressive style and argumentative logic of primary documents. For general readers, the text is early and requires patience with its language and format.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students studying American history, especially those concerned with slavery and abolition
Readers who need early English historical sources for specialized research
Historical readers interested in nineteenth-century American social documents
Readers who wish to understand how public-domain historical texts are written

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a modern general-history overview and the latest research conclusions
Beginners with little patience for the language style of early English documents
Casual readers who only want light stories and are not interested in historical issues

Reading tips

First learn about the author's era and the background of the abolitionist movement; this makes the standpoint in the main text easier to grasp.
While reading, distinguish factual records, quoted materials, and the author's argumentative commentary.
Read alongside the relevant chapters of an American history textbook to establish a timeline and coordinates of events.
Make brief notes on unfamiliar institutions and place names first, so that details do not interrupt the reading rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the core theme of this book?

According to its title and classification data, this book centers on the American slave trade and is a historical document from the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War, reflecting the records and debates surrounding slavery at the time.

What was the identity of the author, Jesse Torrey?

The materials only show that he was active around 1787 to 1834 and was the author of this book. No more detailed biography is provided, and readers should not extrapolate his full life experience from this book.

Is this book suitable for reading directly as a general history?

Not really. It is an early document with the author's standpoint and the limitations of its time. It is better read as a historical source alongside textbooks rather than as a substitute for a modern historical overview.

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About the author

Torrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834 Author · American

Torrey, Jesse (active 1787–1834), was an American physician who in his early years became an active opponent of slavery. His surviving work, American Slave Trade, is an investigative account of the realities of slavery in the United States and belongs to the early abolitionist literature that leaned on factual inquiry. Rather than confining himself to abstract moral appeals, he presents the concrete circumstances of the slave trade and the institution of slavery as he observed and investigated them, which gives the book both historical value and argumentative force. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life, education, and medical practice remain difficult to verify; what can be confirmed is his American nationality, his profession as a doctor, his antislavery stance, and this representative work. The book remains a useful reference for understanding early American abolitionist opinion.