The Scorpion's Sting

A somewhat apt book for the holiday -- free labor being a basic principle of anti-slavery thought -- plus the author is from my way. The idea is that slavery would be surrounded (free territories etc.) by a "cordon of freedom" and eventually kill itself. So, each major conflict here ultimately turned on first principles of the right and wrong of slavery. Interesting chapter on military emancipation from Revolution War to Civil War. Short book.