At a time when slavery was spreading and the country was steeped in racism, two white men and two black men overcame social barriers to form a unique alliance that sought nothing less than the end of all evil. Drawing on the largest extant bi-racial correspondence in the Civil War era, Stauffer braids together these men's struggles to reconcile ideals of justice with the reality of slavery.
Who could imagine that Gerrit Smith, one of the country's richest men, would ally himself with Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave? And why would James McCune Smith, the country's most educated black man, link arms with John Brown, a bankrupt entrepreneur, along with the others? Distinguished by their interracial bonds, they shared a millennialist vision of a new world where everyone was free and equal. As the nation headed toward armed conflict, these men waged their own war by establishing interracial communities, forming a new political party, and embracing violence. Their revolutionary ethos bridged the divides between sacred and profane, black and white, masculine and feminine, civilization and savagery. In so doing, it embraced a malleable and "black-hearted" self that was capable of violent revolt in order to usher in a kingdom of God on earth. Tracing the rise and fall of their alliance, Stauffer reveals how radical reform helped propel the nation toward war even as it strove to vanquish slavery and preserve the peace. |