American Slaves and African Masters : Algiers and the Western Sahara, 1776-1820

"Whether by falling prey to Algerian corsairs or crashing onto the desert shores of Western Sahara, a handful of Americans in the first years of the Republic found themselves enslaved in a system that differed so markedly from nineteenth century U.S. slavery that some contemporaries and modern scholars hesitate to categorize their experiences as 'slavery.' Sears uses a comparative approach, placing African enslavement of Americans and Europeans in the context of Mediterranean and Ottoman slaveries, while individually investigating the system of slavery in Algiers and Western Sahara. This work illuminates the commonalities and peculiarities of these slaveries, while contributing to a growing body of literature that showcases the flexibility of slavery as an institution"--Book cover Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Remembering the “Horror of Mahometan Vassalage”....Pages 1-6 “This World Is Full of Vicissitudes”....Pages 7-23 Front Matter....Pages 25-25 “Far Distant from Our Country, Families, Friends, and Connections”....Pages 27-42 “Once a Citizen of the United States of America, But at Present the Most Miserable Slave”....Pages 43-64 “American Livestock, Now Slaves in Algiers”....Pages 65-86 “We Set No Great Value upon Money”....Pages 87-106 Front Matter....Pages 107-107 “Sons of Sorrow”....Pages 109-133 “Clear the Country of All You Christian Dogs”....Pages 135-156 Epilogue: A Different Kind of Slavery....Pages 157-161 Back Matter....Pages 163-240 This study illuminates the commonalities and the peculiarities of different slaveries and contributes to a growing body of literature that showcases the flexibility of slavery as an institution.