The book I decided to review is titled, “Slavery in the Cities: The South 1820-1860” by Richard C. Wade. The book is about slavery in the cities, mainly in the south. Wade also spoke about conditions of life of the slaves, the law, and the runaways. To conclude the book, he spoke about the transformation of slavery in the cities during the 19th century. Wade’s thesis was stated in the introductory paragraphs. His thesis states that,
“By 1860, slavery was disintegrating in Southern cities.” Wade has used several sources to prove his claim of slavery. In chapter two alone, Wade used one hundred twenty six different sources.
While examining his notes, I noticed that Wade used several types of sources. He used sources ranging from newspapers
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Many of the sources Wade has used reasoned the same way. Wade listed several reasons as to why slavery was in disarray in the southern cities. He states that the number of blacks had declined and to back up his claim he references the census. Records showed that the percentage of blacks living in the towns dropped over twenty percent from 1820 to 1860. Wade used one particular source that sparked my interest as to why slavery ceased to exist in the cities. The source he quoted was from Abbott, South and North, 124. It quotes, “The city is a dangerous place for the slave… He acquires knowledge of human rights, by working with others who receive wages when he receives none…” and so forth. I found this thought to be extremely true. Not only does this quote strengthen Wade’s argument but it also gives a logic explanation as to why slavery did not exist any longer. During the reading of this book, I found that Wade’s evidence proved true of his own logic. Many of his sources claimed the same argument he has claimed about slavery in the cities. For the most part, his argument was strong and his sources strengthened it even more. I only experienced one weakness of his book, in my opinion; the book took forever to get to the solid