In the shadow of the songbird - Softcover

Pogue, Ben

9780692276754: In the shadow of the songbird

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692276750 ISBN 13: 9780692276754

Publisher: Benjamin R.Pogue, 2014

In 1828, many merchants in Charleston believed the economic doldrums could likely be improved by a new technology on the horizon. Horace Pickens, a wealthy slave-holding merchant, heavily invests in a railroad being built to the West. An "abominable" tariff passed by the U.S. Congress, designed to protect industry and foster internal improvements, provokes the South Carolina delegation. They work against the Federal Government providing funds to the railroad, fearing that states accepting money will become subject to the will of Congress, and therefore vulnerable to other initiatives, namely the abolition of the "Peculiar Institution". There is a movement to nullify the actions of Congress. As the railroad becomes his obsession, Horace sees "nullification", and its underlying cause, as it's biggest threat. Unbeknown to him, his daughter Dora, gets a glimpse of torture, and the human agony in a fleeing slave mother and child. She resolves to undermine slavery by assisting slaves in their escape to freedom, enlisting her reluctant maid's and her new love's support. Horace does not approve of her beau or her emancipation ideas. A fierce conflict between them emerges. Faced with the loss of his daughter's respect, business profits threatened by politics, and the destruction of his personal property by those that disagree with him, Horace Pickens fears the issue of nullification will ultimately destroy his railroad investment, and tear apart his most prized relationship with his daughter, Dora, as the railroad builds it's way toward Georgia.

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About the Author:

Following a career as a marketing executive, Ben Pogue began a long delayed pursuit of writing children's poetry and historical novels. A lifelong fascination with history and railroads led to six years of research into Charleston's antebellum history. Ben and his wife Jerri live in Charleston S.C.

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