A: Slavery was intimately related to the major trends [and] developments that we associate with American history in the first half of the 19th century. For example, territorial expansion, the ...

Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton professor of History at Columbia University, is one of this country's most prominent historians. He received his doctoral degree at Columbia under the supervision of Richard ...

Eric Foner: In the language of the nineteenth century, there are various degrees of equality. There's sort of natural equality: All men are created equal, and all are entitled to life ...