Download or read book Slavery and the Democratic Conscience written by Padraig Riley and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2016-01-08 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Slavery and the Democratic Conscience explains how democratic subjects confronted and came to terms with slaveholder power in the early American Republic. Slavery was not an exception to the rise of American democracy, Padraig Riley argues, but was instead central to the formation of democratic institutions and ideals.