Review of Daniel Rasmussen's "American Uprising" (2011)
Daniel Rasmussen, American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt (New York: Harper, 2011), pgs. 276.
When Daniel Rasmussen published his book American Uprising (2011) he had recently graduated Harvard and was transitioning into the private sector at a private equity firm. Rasmussen’s book, the product of his senior thesis, is a major accomplishment for an undergraduate. Furthermore, having one’s book praised by scholars like Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Eric Foner suggests that it should be considered by scholars and a general audience alike. While Rasmussen is a fantastic writer and draws from a significant primary source base, there are issues that hinder this book from making a more significant contribution.
Rasmussen argues that the German Coast Slave Revolt of 1811 is a turning point in United States history in that it more deeply connected the federal government and slaveholders as they worked together to put down the revolt. Because of this, previously disloyal Louisianan planters became committed Americans. Perhaps the biggest contribution this book makes is Rasmussen articulating a forgotten story of Black rebels who fought for freedom on the plantations of the German Coast, located near New Orleans, Louisiana. He argues that this narrative was intentionally obscured in order to diminish the revolutionary implications of the revolt and what it meant for America then and now. Focused on a single event, Rasmussen nevertheless makes arguments that extend to the wider American story.
Several areas of strength in Rassmusse’s narrative is his ability to connect the broader Atlantic world to the events in Louisiana. For example, Rasmussen shows that most of those participating in the revolt were likely late imports into the Louisiana slave system, many coming from West Africa where decades of warfare had militarized much of the region. While not certain, he suggests that the warfare in Africa translated into warfare in Louisiana as former Black soldiers rose up in an effort to overthrow white plantation owners. This framing of slavery as a longer condition of war melds well with recent scholarship such as Vincent Brown’s Tacky’s Revolt which notes that slavery is a state of war between the enslaved and the enslaver. Another strength of this work is Rasmussen’s work in extracting a narrative that was in many ways forgotten. He is correct in noting that the story of this revolt has largely been neglected, though I am not sure it was neglected for all of the reasons that Rasmussen suggests.
While American Uprising does narrate a long neglected story that ought to be incorporated into discussions about slavery and Black American antislavery, this book has numerous problems that make it less affective and not as authoritative. One of the biggest problems is the great underlying thesis of the book. Rasmussen, similar to many other authors, frames the narrative as a heroic narrative of Black versus white. Throughout the book this underlying theme drives the story and many of the arguments stemming from the base thesis create a story that is less than accurate. For example, chapter three centers on the role of the Haitian Revolution in inspiring the German Coast Revolt. Seeing this important connection is fantastic, however, Rasmussen’s framing of the Revolution as a democratic movement marching towards greater liberty is not accurate. As scholarship in the decade preceding this book had shown, Haiti was not a republic after its independence and had actually positioned itself as an empire in the Atlantic world. Furthermore, framing the Haitian Revolution as Black versus white fails to capture the complicated dynamics of the revolution which had biracial coalitions fighting each other for over a decade. Because these facts are neglected, the role of Haiti in the German Coast is not as complicated as it likely was. While enslaved Dominguans would have looked to Haiti as a source of inspiration of Black self determination, they would also have to square with the Black planters of St. Domingue (Haiti) who emigrated to Louisiana with their enslaved people. This narrative of white versus Black also does not capture the complicated racial landscape of New Orleans that for all intents and purposes was a cross roads of numerous empires. Engaging with a more complicated narrative would also aid Rasmussen in breaking free from the narratives told by slaveholders who framed their world as one of a constant Black versus white. This narrative intentionally obscured the reality of a far more complicated racial regime that existed throughout the South.
Other issues stem in large measure from the lack of engagement with other histories. Rasmussen does not engage widely enough with other scholars, thus missing numerous points that could have strengthened, but also modified his argument. One example of this is his framing of American expansion into Louisiana Territory. Much of his framing fails to account for a decade of scholarship on the Louisiana Purchase and also scholarship on the conflicted nature of slavery in Congress. Other areas of weakness include being far too creative with his details of what was in the minds of his subjects. Far too often Rasmussen shares the thoughts of his participants even though such knowledge is impossible to have (for example knowing exactly what a man who left no archival record thought in a specific moment). These and other challenges affect the strength of the book.
Ultimately, Rasmussen is at his best when narrating the actual events of the revolt, but is not always as effective when situating these events within the context of a broader Atlantic world and historical scholarship. It is impressive that Rasmussen was able to turn his senior thesis project into a book that was accepted by a trade press. While certainly not the most egregious historical narrative, it lacks the convincing weight of having engaged with the numerous narratives that speak to this era in American history. A short and interesting read, this book achieves its aim of sharing the narrative of a forgotten slave revolt near the bayous of New Orleans, but does not add significant weight to broader historical narrative.
Robert Swanson