Freedom's Dominion (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power

When Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail quipped, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you," he was only putting an ironical spin on a sentiment that dates back to the 1830s. Freedom's Dominion uses the microcosm of Barbour County, Alabama, to trace individualist and statist resistance to the federal government. The narrative starts with the Creek Indian wars, wherein the federal government tried to enforce its treaties with the Creek people in western Alabama. Creek territory was repeatedly encroached by white settlers and undermined by Alabama politicians. It concludes on the rise Gov. George C. Wallace and the aftermath of his presidential 1968 presidential run. The main takeaway is that in certain locales white liberty connotes freedom to oppress other peoples (Indian wars, slavery, Jim Crow, and the desegregation riots) without interference from the federal government in Washington, DC. Historically, progressivism usually starts at the federal level (the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, the New Deal, integration of the armed services, Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and '65, Roe v. Wade, and firearms regulation) and filters down to states where it meets popular resistance. This book is enthusiastically recommended to readers who want to understand the 200 year-old roots of modern conservatism. It should be mandatory reading for progressive activists and politicians who would want to understand why the federal activism that was momentarily successful in the 1950s and '60s is spinning its wheels in the 21st century.