The book is organized in an interesting way. It begins by describing Polk's plantations and what it was like for the slaves , plus gives details regarding the overseers,a nd Polk's policies regarding purchasing and selling of slaves. Polk endeavored to hide what he was doing from the general public and his reasons for selling and guying were definitley not always patriarchal, but monetary.
Polk died a few months after leaving office, and none or few of his papers were destroyed, hence we have a record of what ocurred on the plantations.
the second half of the book covers the main aspects of Polk's presidential career --annexation of Tx and the MX War. The author discusses the events through the lens of slavery and tried to argue Polk's descisions were heavily influenced by Polk being a slaveowner. the author presents many what-ifs, discussing a vairety of other scenarios that could have happened during Polk's presidency had he made other choices. I found these diversions to be a strength of the book instead of an irritant. The book gave me a lot to think about,a nd it was particulary interesting to learn the details of what Polk plantation life was like.
Polk annexed Texas and was the instigator of the Mexican American War, which led to acquisition of most of the southwest for the United States. Polk also took the Oregon territory, which encompassed much of what is now the northwestern United States. Dusinberre suggests that there was a certain inevitability to some of this, but the way it all played out, and the final border results were far from certain. Polk's overly aggressive expansionism was, to Dusinberre the worst possible way for the country to stretch from sea to shinning sea because it infused militarism and obstinacy into the debate about the future of slavery.
Dusinberre convincingly argues that Polk's, and the Southern ruling classes' mores about slavery as a tool of social order, southern honor, and states rights were all subservient to the economic benefits reaped by slave owners such as Polk. This economic incentive was so great, that it blinded Polk to what Dusinberre believes to be the inevitable fall of slavery. A more forward-looking advocate of the Southern ruling class could have promoted a plan for a soft landing and perhaps sought alliances with moderates, rather than painting everyone who had any problems with slavery as extreme 'abolitionists.'
Polk's military adventurism, intolerance for even discussion of issues related to slavery, and insistence that slave owners' so-called rights should be expanded (or the South would lose its dominance in the Senate) was coupled by his implicit threat of secession in the event of almost any sort of compromise. Dusinberre argues that before Polk and his war, different gradations of opinion existed in the south, but afterward existed only unithought. The Civil War followed.
SLAVEMASTER PRESIDENT is not really a biography as much as it is a study of how slave ownership may have affected the ideology of pre-Civil War southern Democrats such as and including Polk, and how that ideology in turn contributed to the conditions that led to the Civil War. It is a compelling argument. Dusinberre also achieves a heart-rending description of slave life on the Polk plantation. The book achieves what it set out to do.
Still, I would have liked the book to be a bit more biographical. Dusinberre expains up front that his book 'does not discuss Polk's role as a congressman in President Andrew Jackson's war against the Bank of the United States. Nor does it portray President Polk's part in securing the Tariff of 1846, nor his diplomacy with Britain, which led to the establishment of the northwestern boundary dividing the United States from Canada. These stories,' explains Dusinberre, 'have been told elsewhere.' Maybe they have, but there is remarkably little popular literature on this influential, if wrongheaded president. I am satisfied with Dusinberre's book such that it is, but it also left me wanting to read more about Polk.