In Haynes we have a significant but neglected figure whose life and writings link theology, republicanism, and abolitionism in ways that challenge prevailing notions of religion and republican ideology in the revolutionary and early national period. Haynes was a free man of color, minister, and author, steeped in Edwardsean Calvinism, who came of age to the shot heard round the world and the Declaration of Independence. He forged these seemingly diverse strands into a black critique of a slaveholding society that professed liberty and inalienable rights. Saillant has done a wonderful job of making Haynes' stance understandable and compelling.