Free to Enslave: The Foundations of Colonial American Slave Law
"Only a few decades ago, it was possible to write accounts of the culture or economy of the antebellum South which barely mentioned slavery or omitted ""the peculiar institution"" altogether. Today, slavery and race are rightly seen as central questions for the entirety of Southern-indeed American-history. Much of the scholarly attention to slavery has focused on the law. Historians have quarried legal records, including cases, statutes, probate inventories, and records of debtors"
Downloadable Article, 1993