A scholarly, in-depth and detailed multi-generational exploration of the Jay family and their complex and sometimes conflicted attitude to slavery and abolition. John Jay, one of America’s founding fathers, is not perhaps such a well-known figure as, for example George Washington or Benjamin Franklin, but his long career was crucial to America’s development. The book covers primarily the years from about 1777 to 1877, so from the Revolutionary War to the end of Reconstruction, but ventures beyond both dates. All the founding fathers were slave owners but the Jay family in particular worked for abolition, a contradiction that is fully explored in this illuminating book. As much a family biography as a political and social history, it explores how the family’s ideas and attitudes changed over the years and how the public and private aspects of their lives were often contradictory. It’s a long book and takes some concentration, especially when covering all the political manoeuvrings and campaigns. Occasionally I felt bogged down in it all, and I don’t think this is a book for the general reader, but it’s a valuable and important book and a worthy contribution to research into America’s history.

"Liberty's Chain" by David Gellman delves into the complex relationship between the American Revolution and slavery, by focusing on the dealings of the family of founding father John Jay. Meticulously researched, this work explores a pivotal period in history. Gellman's writing is both engaging and informative, as he weaves together historical accounts, personal narratives, and broader contextual analysis to create a comprehensive portrait of this pivotal period in American history. An interesting contribution to the subject.

The history of slavery in America is complex and invokes a lot of emotion. Many feel that the impact of the brutal practice is still felt in the African-American community today. Schools are trying to teach deeper history about the story of African-Americans in the curriculum. This has been met with criticism regarding whether there are political motives and overtones to the teaching of this history.

David Gellman takes a balanced approach to telling the story of slavery and abolition through the life of American Founder John Jay in his book Liberty's Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York. John Jay is arguably one of the least popular Founders in terms of "fan" following. Very few know about his life or the lasting contribution of he and his family to the founding of the country and many important U.S. institutions. While seemingly never front and center, Jay was always in and around some of the most important debates that took place during the Revolutionary War, drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and establishment of the U.S. government.

Gellman brings Jay and his direct descendants' story to life by looking through the lens of slavery. Not only does he describe the family's work to abolish the institution, he also tells the personal story of their struggles with their own slaves. This juxtaposition keeps the book moving and blends the policy details of abolition with the real-life story of what it was like to own slaves making the book interesting to read. He also does not shy away from the inherent hypocrisy between the family's advocacy for abolishing slavery while simultaneously holding slaves of their own.

I highly recommend this book as a timely read on an important Founder of the country, part of American history, and social issue that will be debated for years to come.

David Gellman's Liberty's Chain is a fascinating look at the relationship between the Jay family and slavery through multiple generations. Starting with the Founding Father, John Jay, and then his son and grandson, Gellman looks at how their views on slavery began to change and evolve during the time of the American Revolution to the Civil War.

What makes this book really interesting is that the Jay family did not start out as fully formed abolitionists. John Jay actually had slaves and kept them even while leading an abolitionist society. His descendants would become more and more critical of slavery even while grappling with their own family history. Their attitudes and evolution are worth the in-depth study Gellman gives them.

Gellman's book does not spare the details and he uses concrete anecdotes to make his points. It is a scholarly work which convinces you through evidence as opposed to conjecture. The story is not always linear (as Gellman himself explains in his introduction) and this book may be too in-depth for a casual reader. However, for anyone interested in this time period and topic, it is a must read.

(This book was an advance copy provided by Netgalley and Cornell University Press. The full review is available on HistoryNerdsUnited.com.)

This book works as a family biography with a specific focus on slavery, abolitionism, and the striving for racial equality. The book begins with a brief introduction on how the Jay family fled France during the Huguenot persecution and settled in New York. It then slows down to take a closer look at John Jay, his Founding Father credentials, his views on gradual abolitionism, and his role as governor of NY in bringing about the end of slavery in that state. The bulk of the book (about 70%) then takes up the lives of his son William Jay, and his grandson John Jay II. Both of them embraced the cause of abolitionism early on and were key and vocal leaders in the movement even when that movement was an unpopular tiny minority even in the north. William Jay died shortly before the Civil War began but the book carries through into the early days of reconstruction. It then rapidly picks up speed to round out the remaining decades of John Jay II's life. Since his post-war focus was more on combatting political corruption and on the Nativism issue, it lies beyond the purview of this book's focus. The book then closes out with an epilogue that highlights John Jay Chaman's (JJ2's grandson) response and comments on a 1911 lynching. I love one quote from him, "So long as there is any subject which men may not freely discuss, they are timid on all subjects." This quote was specifically talking about the silence from so many at his time around the issue of this lynching as well as the continued racial oppression in the Jim Crow south. It does, however, work as commentary both on the difficulties faced during the lives of his abolitionist ancestors and on how the media and establishment (on both sides) try so hard to shut down any dissenting voices.

In all this was a great read. Alexander Hamilton is still my favorite founding father, but John Jay definitely moved way up on my list. Ron Chernow's Hamilton bio is still the standard for writing on the revolutionary period. Gellman's book is good, but he's no Chernow. My two biggest complaints are both minor. At times the author seems to disparagingly judge the principles of this book by holding them to modern standards. Even though all three were way ahead of the curve on issues of race and equality, they still might have said and written some things that might get them condemned by the Facebook and Twitter social justice warriors of our day. The other thing is that there are also times where the author very clearly condemns them for having privilege and wealth. Gellman just spends hundreds of pages demonstrating how they leveraged that wealth and privilege for the betterment of society, and even how they forsook garnering even more privilege and wealth by speaking so strongly and clearly on such an unpopular topic (freedom and equality). But he cannot help throwing in a few snide comments that show he views them as somehow less than worthy for having such riches.

I am reading an advance copy that is still a few months from publication. Hopefully, in that intervening time, these occasional discordant jabs can be toned down or edited out. But even if not, this book is definitely worth picking up. This appears to be Gellman's first solo published work. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out and will grab anything he writes in the future.



Also, as stated above, I have been given an advanced reader's copy. I appreciate the opportunity to do so, but it in no way influenced my rating or comments on this book.