Few images of early America were more striking and jarring than that of slaves in the capital city of the world's most important republic. Black slaves served and sustained the legislators, bureaucrats, jurists, cabinet officials, military leaders, and even presidents who lived and worked there.  While slaves helped to quietly to keep the nation's capital running smoothly, lawmakers debated the place of slavery in the new nation, the status of slavery in the territories newly acquired from Mexico, and even the legality of the slave trade itself.

     This volume -- the second part of the Perspectives on the History of Congress 1801-1877 series -- features essays by some of the most distinguished historians in the nation exploring the twin issue of how slavery made life possible in the District of Columbia even as lawmakers in the district regulated slavery in the nation.  Edited by USCHS Chief Historian Donald R. Kennon, Ph.D, and Albany Law Professor Paul Finkleman.  Hardcover, 272 pp., 2011.