Gautham Rao — White Power: Policing American Slavery
Historian Gautham Rao traces the origins of American policing to the enforcement of slavery — a history that runs from the colonial era through the Revolution and into the architecture of modern law enforcement.
Why we picked this
Rao builds the historical case meticulously, from colonial slave patrols through the constitutional moment — the argument is not rhetorical but archival, which makes it considerably harder to dismiss.
Gautham Rao, a historian at American University whose research spans early American legal history and the development of state power, examines the origins of American policing in White Power: Policing American Slavery. The book draws on extensive archival research to trace how the enforcement mechanisms developed to control enslaved populations in colonial America evolved into the institutions that became modern policing — moving through the founding era, the constitutional settlement, and into the antebellum period.
The argument is historical and evidentiary rather than polemical: Rao follows the documentary record to show how slave patrols, fugitive slave enforcement, and the legal architecture of racial control shaped the development of law enforcement as an institution. The book spans from the colonial era through the American Revolution, examining how the founders’ compromises with slavery built specific enforcement mechanisms into the constitutional structure.
For readers interested in how American institutions were actually built — rather than the sanitized version — this is serious historical scholarship offered in a public setting. DC, as the seat of federal law enforcement, is a fitting venue for this conversation.