Burning Down the House: Slavery and Arson in America

• Published in: The Journal of American history (Bloomington, Ind.) Vol. 110; no. 3; pp. 449 - 473
• Main Author: Immerwahr, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Organization of American Historians 01.12.2023
• Subjects: American Civil War; Antebellum period; Arson; Slavery; Subversive activities; Southern states

Immerwahr examines methods and evidence from environmental, urban, and intellectual history that attest to the connection between slavery and arson. By the 1830s, as slavery concentrated in the South, many saw fire as a form of sectional warfare. Arson amplified North-South divisions by raising the...