The family visited Georgia during the winter of 1838–39, where they lived at the plantations at Butler and St. Simons islands, in conditions primitive compared to their house in Philadelphia. Kemble was shocked by the living and working conditions of the slaves and their treatment at the hands of the overseers and managers, which led to her divorcing Pierce. In 1863, Kemble published "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839," which included her observations of slavery and life on her husband's Southern plantation in the winter of 1838–39. After the divorce Frances Butler Leigh sided with her father on the plantations and later inherited them after the Civil War. Based on her experience, Leigh published "Ten Years on a Georgian Plantation since the War (1883)," as a rebuttal to her mother's account. Leigh notes that after the Civil War "the whole country had of course undergone a complete revolution… our slaves had been freed; the white population was conquered, ruined, and disheartened, unable for the moment to see anything but ruin before as well as behind, too wedded to the fancied prosperity of the old system to believe in any possible success under the new." After the war the plantation fields had not been cultivated in four years and the former slaves agreed to work, but they would now have to be paid. Regarding the productivity of hired help, Leigh writes critically: "The prospect of getting in the crop did not grow more promising as time went on. The negroes talked a great deal about their desire and intention to work for us, but their idea of work, unaided by the stern law of necessity, is very vague, some of them working only half a day and some even less. I don't think one does a really honest full day's work, and so of course not half the necessary amount is done and I am afraid never will be again, and so our properties will soon be utterly worthless, for no crop can be raised by such labour as this, and no negro will work if he can help it, and is quite satisfied just to scrape along doing an odd job here and there to earn money enough to buy a little food." Regarding the wages to be paid, Leigh relates: "On Wednesday, when my father returned, he reported that he had found the negroes all on the place, not only those who were there five years ago, but many who were sold three years before that. Seven had worked their way back from the up country. They received him very affectionately, and made an agreement with him to work for one half the crop, which agreement it remained to be seen if they would keep." The former slaves were given "in the meantime necessary food, clothing, and money for their present wants (as they have not a penny) which is to be deducted from whatever is due to them at the end of the year. This we found the best arrangement to make with them, for if we paid them wages, the first five dollars they made would have seemed like so large a sum to them, that they would have imagined their fortunes made and refused to work any more." Leigh hired Irish immigrants to dig and maintain the plantation's irrigation ditches, and described them as "faithful" workers.

    1788-1809.THE traveller who visits Maiden, Massachusetts, one of the picturesque suburban towns of Boston, may find in the Baptist meeting-house a marble tablet, bearing the -following inscription :IN MEMORIAM.REV, ADONIRAM JUDSON.BORN AUG. 9, 1786.DIED APRIL 12, 1650.MALDEN, HIS BIRTHPLACE.THE OCEAN, HIS SEPULCHRE.CONVERTED BURMANS, ANDTHE BURMAN BIBLE,HIS MONUMENT.HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH.An old wooden house embosomed among the trees is stilt pointed out as the birthplace of Adoniram Judson. His father, who also bore the quaint, scriptural name of Adoniram, was a Congregationalist minister, born in Woodbury, Connecticut, in June, 1752. He was married November 23, 1786, to Abigail Brown, who was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, December 1$, 1759. Soon after his marriage he settled in Maiden, Massachusetts, and here his eldest son, Adoniram, was born....

     But who was the man behind the political image? Originally published in 1883 as part of the ‘American Statesmen’ series, John T. Morse’s detailed biography explores the life of one of history’s most important political figures. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence, was also a key figure in the American Revolution. Over time his name has become synonymous with the ideals of liberty and democracy. Morse’s riveting biography traces the life of Jefferson, from his early years in Virginia to his ascent into foreign and domestic politics. In the process Morse has created a classic account of one of the most prominent figures in American history. Praise for John T Morse: ‘Biography may be either an art or a science, but it is generally neither. With Mr Morse it is an art.’ - Political Science Quarterly John Torrey Morse (1840–1937) was an American historian and biographer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he also worked as a lawyer. Morse was the editor of the ‘American Statesmen’ series, and published, among others, biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton and J.Q. Adams.