12

640 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman, Time on the Cross: The Economics
of American Negro Slavery (1974; Lanham, Md., 1984), 38-107; William A.
Dunaway, The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation (Cambridge,
Mass., 2003), 18-114.
6.3 in his gang] Ruffin uses the term "gang" loosely, referring to all the slaves
held on the Lloyd plantation. At that time, Douglass was too young to participate in
gang labor; in fact his life with Edward Covey in 1834 was his only experience of a
situation comparable to the gang system. Instituted in the early 1800s and employed
primarily on large plantations, the gang system developed unevenly, eventually
becoming a popular form of organized slave labor because of its efficiency and its
structured supervision. The gangs usually consisted of a group of slaves who worked
together doing assigned daily tasks. Typically, two supervisors monitored their work,
beginning with the driver--another slave who had earned the owner's trust. The
driver reported to the white overseer who was in charge of the gang's progress, and it
was he who dealt directly with the plantation owner. The gang system encouraged
competition among slaves and focused on securing more "product" from each slave
rather than more hours of work. Robert William Fogel, Without Consent or Contract:
The Rise and Fall of American Slavery (New York, 1989), 25-28; Miller and Smith,
Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery, 283-84.
6.12 Edmund Burke style] Whig member of Parliament and political philosopher,
Edmund Burke (1729-97) has been considered the father of modem conservatism. He
was an outspoken advocate of greater freedoms in Ireland, America, and India, yet he
was critical of movements that upset the established order, such as the French
Revolution. His oratory reflected his immense knowledge of literature and government,
and he would often give speeches that were three hours long. Burke's stylized
delivery was not meant for the masses, and even his colleagues would tire of his
lengthy and detailed oratory. Never considered an easy man to get along with, Burke's
temper increased in his later years to the point that he would become violent during
his speeches, even throwing items at colleagues during his rants. His great intellect
garnered him enough respect to be tolerated despite his outbursts. Edmund Burke,
Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches, ed. Peter J. Stanlis (Garden City,
N.Y., 1963), 1-37; DNB, 3:345-65.
6.13 Everett] Edward Everett (1794-1865), one of antebellum America's foremost
orators, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard
University. At age nineteen he was installed as pastor of the Brattle Street Church,
Boston's most prestigious Unitarian congregation. In 1815 Everett accepted an
appointment to teach Greek literature at Harvard and journeyed to Europe to prepare
for his new duties, becoming the first American to be awarded a doctorate from the
University of Goettingen. He returned to the United States in 1819, taught at Harvard,
edited the North American Review, and, from 1825 to 1835, served in Congress,
where he opposed Andrew Jackson on the national bank issue and conciliated proslavery
southerners. In 1835 a coalition of Whigs and Anti-Masons secured him the