Between Freedom and Bondage

<p><em>Between Freedom and Bondage </em>looks at the fluctuations of black suffrage in the ante-bellum North, using the four states of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island as examples. In each of these states, a different outcome was obtained for blacks in their quest to share the vote. By analyzing the various outcomes of state struggles, Malone offers a framework for understanding and explaining how the issue of voting rights for blacks unfolded between the drafting of the Constitution, and the end of the Civil War.</p> <p>1. Introduction: The Beginning of the Story: Black Enfranchisement in the Antebellum Era 2. 'The Mind of Blacks are Not Competent to Vote': Racial Voting Restrictions in New York 3. 'An Asylum for the Oppressed Injured Sons of Europe': Disenfranchisement in Pennsylvania 4. 'Servility is Not Confined to Color': Disenfranchisement and Re-Enfranchisement in Rhode Island 5. 'The Vaunted Superiority of the White Race Imposes Corresponding Duties': Massachusetts and Black Enfranchisement - the "Exception" to the Rule 6. Epilogue: Reconstructing the Two Reconstructions: Race Formation in the Antebellum North and the Nationalization of Party Politics </p>