Stanley Elkins

Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life

Based on Elkins' doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, this work was theoretically innovative and enormously influential when first published, although largely superseded today. In it, Elkins made two major, and controversial, statements, the first being American abolitionists reduced their effectiveness by insisting on ideological consistency and purity, and refusing to compromise with the slave system. He argued British abolitionists were more pragmatic and thus effective, allowing them to abolish slavery without war.

He went on to contrast slavery in North America with that in Spanish America, suggesting it was more important to focus on the structures governing the institution, rather than its conditions. In North America, slaves were deprived of any legal rights, including the ability to marry or have a family, be protected from violence, own property or make a will. With the exception of Maryland and Kentucky, slave states even passed legislation making it illegal for anyone to teach slaves to read and write, or allow them to own books. The removal of personal rights and utter dependence on their owners resulted in what Elkins called "chattel slavery", which he contrasted with the system prevailing in Spanish America. Although conditions could be just as harsh, slaves generally had a variety of legal rights, including the ability to use the court system, purchase their freedom or contract their labour out to others.

In addition, slavery in North America was almost exclusively a black experience, while in Spanish America it began as a "misfortune" that could happen to anyone who fell into debt. As a result, "chattel slavery" had a lasting impact on how black Americans viewed themselves and how they were perceived by wider society. Then-recent research by Bruno Bettelheim and others on inmates of Nazi concentration camps during World War II showed their totalitarian environment systematically destroyed the ability of inmates to resist, plan or form positive relationships with one another. Elkins suggested pre-Civil War slavery was a similar environment, views that were influential in the late 1960s when politicians like Daniel Patrick Moynihan supported affirmative action programs as a way to counteract the longterm impact of slavery on black culture.

His arguments have since been heavily criticised, particularly for his use of the racial slur "Sambo" to describe the allegedly "infantilised" state which black Americans were reduced to by slavery. In addition, critics point out Elkins provided no data or methodology for his comparison between WWII concentration camp victims, largely white Europeans, and black Americans. Initially heralded by the black community as an important and positive contribution, this comparison was considered offensive by descendants of both groups. Finally, it is suggested his criticism of American abolitionists ignores the reality of the society within which they operated, since every attempt made to achieve partial reform was blocked. The controversy is discussed in more detail in a collection of essays by Ann Lane, and also by historian John Wesley Blassingame.

The Age of Federalism

The Age of Federalism: The Early Republic, 1788-1800, co-authored by Elkins and Eric McKitrick, was described as a "dazzling book," featuring an "elegant and penetrating pen portrait of Hamilton."The Age of Federalism won the Bancroft Prize. The book explores the history of the Federalist party, discusses the relationships among key players, among them Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, and analyzes the administrations of George Washington and John Adams.

Awards and fellowships

• 1954–55 Rockefeller Foundation Fellow
• 1959–60 Rockefeller Foundation Grant
• 1963–64 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship
• 1967–68 National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
• 1970–71 Guggenheim Fellow
• 1970–71 Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
• 1980 Visiting Fellow, St. Catherine's College, Oxford
• 1994 Bancroft Prize
• 1995 Order of Cincinnatus Prize

Published works

Books

• Stanley M. Elkins (1976). Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-20477-2. (1959, 1963, 1976 editions) reviews
• Stanley M. Elkins; Eric L. McKitrick (1993). The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-506890-0.
• Cecelia M. Kenyon (2003). Stanley M. Elkins; Eric L. McKitrick (eds.). Men of Little Faith: Selected Writings of Cecelia Kenyon. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-55849-347-6.

Articles

• Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick. "A Meaning for Turner's Frontier: Part I: Democracy in the Old Northwest," Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Sep., 1954), pp. 321–353 in JSTOR
• Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "A Meaning for Turner's Frontier: Part II: The Southwest Frontier and New England," Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Dec., 1954), pp. 565–602 in JSTOR
• Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "Institutions and the Law of Slavery: The Dynamics of Unopposed Capitalism," American Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring, 1957), pp. 3–21 in JSTOR
• Stanley Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "Institutions and the Law of Slavery: Slavery in Capitalist and Non-Capitalist Cultures," American Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 2, Part 1 (Summer, 1957), pp. 159–179 in JSTOR
• Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "The Founding Fathers: Young Men of the Revolution," Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Jun., 1961), pp. 181–216 in JSTOR