I am a historian of colonial North America and the United States, with a particular focus on efforts to abolish slavery in the Revolutionary Era and in the Nineteenth Century. My book Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York (Three Hills/ Cornell 2022), is a multi-generational biography that tells the story of founding father John Jay, his descendants, and the enslaved and formerly enslaved members of their households. The book traces personal, regional, and national arcs from the colonial period to the early 20th century. My work on the Jays builds upon two of my previous books—a monograph on the abolition of slavery in New York and, with David Quigley, a document collection on debates about race and citizenship in New York from the Revolution through Reconstruction. I have also published essays on the Missouri Compromise, on James Fenimore Cooper, and on Bruce Springsteen. In addition, I co-authored the colonial history textbook American Odysseys (Oxford 2014) and present widely to scholarly and general audiences. I have served two terms on the editorial board of the Journal of the Early Republic and have held research fellowships at the Huntington Library, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.

• Northwestern University, Ph.D. in History, 1997.
• Amherst College, B.A. in History, 1988.

As a teacher, I have developed a wide array of courses on such topics as colonial North America and Atlantic history, the American Revolution, the US Constitution, urban history, abolitionism, and Abraham Lincoln.

Books:

• Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York (Ithaca: Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2022).
• American Odysseys: A History of Colonial North America, co-author, Timothy J. Shannon (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
• Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery and Freedom, 1777-1827 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006).
• Jim Crow New York: A Documentary History of Race and Citizenship, 1777-1877, co-editor, David Quigley (New York: New York University Press, 2003).

Book Chapters:

• “Sharing the Founders’ Flame: John Jay, Missouri, and Memory,” in A Fire Bell in the Past: The Missouri Crisis at 200, Volume 1: Western Slavery, National Impasse, ed. Jeffrey L. Pasley and John Craig Hammond (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2021).
• “Abbe’s Ghost: Negotiating Slavery in Paris, 1783-4,” in Experiencing Empire: Power, People, and Revolution in Early America, ed. Patrick Griffin (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017).
• “Darkness on the Edge of Town: Springsteen, Richard Ford, and the American Dream,” in Kenneth Womack, Jerry Zolten, and ¬Mark Bernhard eds., Bruce Springsteen, Cultural Studies, and the Runaway American Dream (Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2012).
• “Going Nowhere: Bruce, The Beatles, Neil Young, Talking Heads and Others,” in David Izzo, ed., Bruce Springsteen and the American Soul: Essays on the Songs and Influence of a Cultural Icon (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2011).

Articles:

• “No Shelter from the Storm: Slavery and Freedom in Early New York City,” in forum “Decentering Early New York City’s History,” New York History 103, no. 1 (Summer 2022), 23-35.
• “”The master and the man must change places for a season’: Untangling Historical Narratives of Race and Loyalty in The Spy,” The James Fenimore Cooper Society Journal 32, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2021), 5-27.
• “Pirates, Sugar, Debtors, and Slaves: Political Economy and the Case for Gradual Abolition in New York,” Slavery and Abolition, Vol. 22, No. 2 (August 2001), 51-68.
• “Race, the Public Sphere, and Abolition in Late Eighteenth- Century New York,” Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Winter 2000), 607-636.

Commentary:

• “Beckwith’s Three-Fifths Compromise view glosses over slavery expansion,” Indianapolis Star, April 29, 2025 (online).
• “Voting Rights Debate a Racial Reckoning”: Albany Times Union, February 6, 2022.
• “The Long Selma Moment”: Historians Against Slavery Website (posted February 23, 2015).

• Herbert H. Lehman Prize for History—Distinguished Scholarship (2024).
• Andrew Wallace Crandall Professor of History (2016-2021).
• Fisher Fellowship, DePauw University (Fall 2017).
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow, Huntington Library, (March 2015).
• John J. & Elizabeth Bowden Baughman Faculty Fellowship, DePauw University (2009-2010, 2011-2013).
• Choice Outstanding Academic Titles, 2007, 2004.
• Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship Associate Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society, (March 2005).
• The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (Jan./Feb. 2005).
• The Ralph D. Gray Article Prize, Journal of the Early Republic (2001).

• Co-Director, Asher Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity, DePauw University (2022-2025).
• Editorial Board, Journal of the Early Republic (2018-2024).

• Salem Athenaeum, Salem, Massachusetts (January 19, 2023)
• Henry S.F. Cooper Jr. Lecture on Early American History and Literature, New York Society Library, New York City (January 17, 2023).
• Seward House Museum, Auburn, New York (October 18, 2022).
• Fraunces Tavern Museum (virtual—August 11, 2022).
• Supreme Court Historical Society (virtual—July 26, 2022).
• Chappaqua Library/Miller House (virtual—June 20, 2022).
• John Jay Homestead Lecture Series, Bedford, New York (April 28, 2022).

Media Appearances:

• Modern Scholar Podcast (released November 7, 2023).
• C-SPAN 2, C-SPAN 3, C-SPAN Radio, CSPAN.ORG (released January 14, 2023)
• History Unplugged Podcast (released November 22, 2022).
• History Tavern Podcast (released October 14, 2022).

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