{"product_id":"libertys-chain-slavery-abolition-and-the-jay-family-of-new-york-9781501715846","title":"Liberty's Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLiberty's Chain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, David N. Gellman shows how the Jay family, abolitionists and slaveholders alike, embodied the contradictions of the revolutionary age.\u003c\/b\u003e The Jays of New York were a preeminent founding family. John Jay, diplomat, Supreme Court justice, and coauthor of the Federalist Papers, and his children and grandchildren helped chart the course of the Early American Republic. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eLiberty's Chain\u003c\/i\u003e forges a new path for thinking about slavery and the nation's founding. John Jay served as the inaugural president of a pioneering antislavery society. His descendants, especially his son William Jay and his grandson John Jay II, embraced radical abolitionism in the nineteenth century, the cause most likely to rend the nation. The scorn of their elite peers--and racist mobs--did not deter their commitment to end southern slavery and to combat northern injustice. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJohn Jay's personal dealings with African Americans ranged from callousness to caring. Across the generations, even as prominent Jays decried human servitude, enslaved people and formerly enslaved people served in Jay households. Abbe, Clarinda, Caesar Valentine, Zilpah Montgomery, and others lived difficult, often isolated, lives that tested their courage and the Jay family's principles.\u003cp\u003eThe personal and the political intersect in this saga, as Gellman charts American values transmitted and transformed from the colonial and revolutionary eras to the Civil War, Reconstruction, and beyond. The Jays, as well as those who served them, demonstrated the elusiveness and the vitality of liberty's legacy. This remarkable family story forces us to grapple with what we mean by patriotism, conservatism, and radicalism. Their story speaks directly to our own divided times. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Three Hills\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/15\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781501715846\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 544\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/17\/2022\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"David N. Gellman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41614524743861,"sku":"9781501715846","price":31.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_0d98df43-bd92-4a2d-9e9e-9bf2cda6ed65.jpg?v=1644901927","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/libertys-chain-slavery-abolition-and-the-jay-family-of-new-york-9781501715846","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}