Dissertation on Slavery With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it, in the State of Virginia

Dissertation on Slavery With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it, in the State of Virginia by St. George Tucker offers a provocative 1796 legal and moral plea for ending slavery from the heart of a slaveholding commonwealth. Written as part of Tucker’s lectures at the College of William & Mary and addressed to Virginia’s legislature, this historical nonfiction treatise blends constitutional reasoning, natural-law philosophy, and practical policy proposals to argue that slavery undermines republican government and the spirit of equality. Tucker presents a detailed plan for gradual abolition designed to avoid economic disruption and protect the interests of the current generation while liberating future ones. His essay engages Enlightenment thinkers, legal principles, and the political realities of the early American republic, making a case that abolition is both morally necessary and politically achievable. The work illuminates the tensions between liberty and property that shaped antebellum debate and anticipates later reform movements without resorting to polemic. Ideal for students of American history, constitutional law, abolitionist studies, and anyone interested in early U.S. political thought, this audiobook offers a rare primary-source window into an influential legal mind wrestling with slavery’s place in a new nation.