DOCSLIB.ORG

Essential Question

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Essential Question Essential Question: Why were some reasons that the vast majority of Americans were unwilling to take sides in the debate over slavery in the 1830s? Evangelical Abolitionism Rejecting Walker’s call for violence, northern evangelical Christians launched a moral crusade to outlaw slavery If planters did not allow blacks their God-given status as free moral agents, these radical Christians warned, they faced eternal damnation at the hands of a just God People like William Lloyd Garrison set about getting in the face of slaveholders through his newspaper, the Liberator Garrison, Weld, & the Grimke Sisters Garrison was a young Massachusetts printer who worked on a Baltimore anti- slavery newspaper of the 1820s, The Genius of Universal Emancipation 1830-Garrison went to jail, convicted of libeling a New England merchant engaged in the domestic slave trade 1831-The same year as Turner’s Revolt, Garrison moved back to Boston, where he started his own weekly newspaper, The Liberator, & founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society “I WILL NOT RETREAT A SINGLE INCH” Garrison demanded slaves be freed immediately without compensation He accused the American Colonization Society, which was recruiting free blacks for return to Africa, of perpetuating slavery He assailed the US Constitution as “a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell” because it accepted racial bondage Other Northerners Thought Like Him 1833-Garrison, Theodore Weld, & 60 other religious abolitionists, black & white, established the American Anti-Slavery Society Arthur & Lewis Tappan, wealthy New York silk merchants, gave them funds Women abolitionists established their own groups, including Lucretia Mott’s Philadelphia Theodore Weld Female Anti-Slavery Society Through a network of local societies, women Lucretia Mott raised money for The Liberator & carried the movement to the farm villages & small towns of the Midwest Their goal: distribute abolitionist literature & collect thousands of signatures on antislavery petitions Arthur Tappan Lewis Tappan The Grimke Sisters To win the support of religious Americans, Theodore Weld published The Bible Against Slavery in 1837-He said Christian’s holiest book condemned slavery 1839-Weld teamed up with Sarah & Angelina Grimke of South Carolina (he ended up marrying Angelina) The Grimke girls had left their Angelina Grimke Sarah Grimke father’s plantation over slavery, converted to Quakerism, & had taken up the abolitionist cause in Philadelphia Together they published American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses Using First-Hand Evidence Using reports from Southern newspapers & first-hand accounts, they presented incriminating evidence of the inherent violence of slavery “One poor girl, sent there to be flogged, and who was accordingly stripped naked and whipped, showed me the deep gashes on her back—I might have laid my whole finger in them—large pieces of flesh had actually been cut out by the torturing lash” Filled with such images of pain & suffering, the book sold more than 100,000 copies in a single year The American Anti-Slavery Society Using the new steam powered presses, the abolitionists printed a million pamphlets They used mass communication techniques The American Anti-Slavery Society carried out a “great postal campaign” in 1835, flooding the nation, including the South, with its literature Their second tactic: aid fugitive slaves in escaping their masters The Beginning of the Underground Railroad They set up a network of sympathizers who provided lodging and jobs for escaped slaves in free states This so-called “Underground Railroad” had operatives, white & black, in Richmond, Charleston, & other southern towns In Baltimore, a free African American sailor loaned his identification papers to a young slave, Frederick Douglass, who used them to escape to New York Harriet Tubman This little woman escaped from slavery, yet returned to the South 19 times to bring out more than 300 slaves to the North She and other runaways risked re-enslavement or death “I should fight for…liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me” she explained Thanks to the Underground Railroad, about 1000 African Americans reached freedom in the North each year from 1835-1850 The Not-So-Friendly North Most northern whites were not willing to grant civic or social equality to African Americans Voters in 6 northern & mid-western states adopted constitutional amendments that denied or limited the right to vote for free blacks Under the Fugitive Salve Law of 1793, slave owners & their hired slave catchers were allowed to seize suspected runaways & return them to slavery Often, though, white abolitionists would form mobs to attack slave catchers, release their prisoners, & spirit them off to Canada, which refused to extradite fugitive slaves The Political Strategy While using the mass media and the Underground Railroad, abolitionists had a 3rd strategy Between 1835-1838, the American Anti-Slavery Society bombarded Congress with petitions containing nearly 500,000 signatures They demanded the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, where slave markets could be seen not far from the White House They also insisted on an end to the interstate slave trade, & a ban on admission of new slave states Who Supported the Abolitionists? Thousands of deeply-religious farmers & small-town merchants joined the network of anti-slavery societies 1835—There were 200 such societies, but by 1840, the number had grown to 2000, with nearly 200,000 members Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau joined the cause Thoreau was arrested for refusing to pay his taxes because they were used to finance the Mexican War, which he considered a naked scheme to extend slavery 1848-He published “Resistance to Civil Government” in which he urged individuals to follow a higher moral law & peacefully resist unjust laws Opposition and Internal Conflict While raising a lot of noise in the North and antagonizing southern planters, abolitionists remained in the minority Perhaps 10% of northerners and midwesterners strongly supported the movement Only another 20% were sympathetic to its goals By contrast, a small minority of plantations had more than 50 slaves Over 80,000 southern households kept just one slave The map shows slavery was concentrated in cotton-growing areas, or in Virginia, which bred slaves for trading Attacks on Abolition Those who supported slavery did not just stand back & take the verbal abuse from abolitionists Ministers warned that abolitionist agitation risked setting one part of society against another Wealthy men feared an attack on slave property might become an assault on all property rights Conservative clergymen looked at how the abolition movement Accompanying text: “God bless you was dominated by women, and massa! you feed and clothe us. When we condemned their activities as are sick, you nurse us, and when too old sinful to work, you provide for us!” This represented the pro-slavery view of the ante-bellum South in its defense of the “peculiar institution.” Attacks from Northerners Northern wage workers—those who worked in factories—feared that freed blacks would take their jobs Since southern cotton supplied the raw materials for many northern factories, many merchants & manufacturers supported slavery To underline the national reach of slavery, hog farmers in Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois & pork packers in Cincinnati profited from lucrative sales to slave plantations They were not very supportive of abolition Racial Mixing One big taboo for nearly all whites was the idea of “amalgamation”—racial mixing & intermarriage It seemed that abolitionists like Garrison were supporting racial mixing by holding meetings of blacks & whites of both sexes Such racial fears led to mob actions and violence Southerners: This is what Garrison wants for all. Attacking Blacks & Abolitionists White workers in northern towns often laid waste to taverns & brothels where blacks & whites mixed They vandalized “respectable” African American churches, temperance, halls, & orphanages 1833-A New York mob stormed a church in search of Garrison & the Tappan brothers Another white mob swept thru Philadelphia, clubbing & stoning black residents, destroying homes & churches The Death of Elijah P. Lovejoy 1835-”Gentlemen of property & standing”—that is, lawyers, merchants, & bankers, broke up an abolitionist convention in Utica, New York 1837-A mob broke into the offices of the Alton Observer, an abolitionist newspaper in Alton, Illinois They shot & killed the editor, Elijah P. Lovejoy By pressing for emancipation & equality, abolitionists had revealed just how much racial prejudice existed in America at the time Racial Solidarity in the South Whites in the South officially banned abolitionists The Georgia Legislature offered a $5000 reward for anyone who would kidnap Garrison & bring him to the South to be tried (or lynched) Nashville—Vigilantes whipped a northern college student for distributing abolitionist literature Charleston—A mob attacked a post office & destroyed sacks of abolitionist mail After 1835, southern postmasters simply refused to deliver any mail they thought might be from abolitionists Shutting Off Debate Over Slavery 1835-Pres. Andrew Jackson, a Tennessee slaveholder, asked Congress to restrict the sue of the mails by abolitionist groups Congress refused, but in 1836, the House of Representatives adopted the “gag rule” Under this law, the House automatically tabled
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Catholics, Slaveholders, and the Dilemma of American Evangelicalism, 1835–1860 / W
    Catholics, Slaveholders, and the Dilemma of American Evangelicalism, 1835 –1860 W. J ASON WALLACE University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana © 2010 University of Notre Dame Press Copyright © 2010 by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wallace, William Jason. Catholics, slaveholders, and the dilemma of American evangelicalism, 1835–1860 / W. Jason Wallace. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-04421-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-04421-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. United States—Church history—19th century. 2. Evangelicalism— United States—History—19th century. 3. Catholic Church— United States—History—19th century. 4. Slavery—United States— History—19th century. 5. Christianity and politics—United States— History—19th century. I. Title. BR525.W34 2010 282'.7509034—dc22 2010024340 ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. © 2010 University of Notre Dame Press Introduction Between 1835 and 1860, evangelical pulpits and religious journals in the North aggressively attacked slaveholders and Catholics as threats to American values. Criticisms of these two groups could often be found in the same northern evangelical journal, if not on the same page. Words such as “despotism” and “tyranny” described both the theological condi- tion of the Catholic Church and the political condition of the South. Slavery and Catholicism were labeled incompatible with republican insti- tutions and bereft of the virtues necessary to sustain a democratic people.
    [Show full text]
  • Arthur Tappan
    ARTHUR TAPPAN Lewis Tappan and Arthur Tappan were descendants of Benjamin Franklin (which is perhaps why their father, and another brother, happened to be named Benjamin Tappan). Arthur received a common-school education and then served a 7- year apprenticeship in the hardware business in Boston, before establishing himself in Portland, Maine, and subsequently in Montreal, Canada, where he would remain until the beginning of the war of 1812. In 1814 he would engage with his brother Lewis in importing British dry-goods into New-York City, and after that partnership was dissolved he successfully continued the business alone. He was known for his public spirit and philanthropy. He was a founder of the American tract society, the largest donor for the erection of its 1st building, and was identified with many charitable and religious bodies. He was a founder of Oberlin College, also erecting Tappan Hall there, and endowed Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, and a professorship at Auburn Theological Seminary. With his brother Lewis he founded the New-York Journal of Commerce in 1828, and established The Emancipator in 1833, paying the salary of the editor and all the expenses of its publication. He was an ardent abolitionist, and as the interest in the anti-slavery cause deepened he formed, at his own rooms, the nucleus of the New-York antislavery society, which was publicly organized under his presidency at Clinton Hall on October 2, 1833. He was also president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, to which for several years he contributed $1,000 per month, but withdrew in 1840 on account of the aggressive spirit that many members manifested toward the churches and the Union.
    [Show full text]
  • Lincoln and the Abolitionists Allen C
    History Faculty Publications History Fall 2000 Lincoln and the Abolitionists Allen C. Guelzo Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/histfac Part of the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. The definitive version was published as Guelzo, Allen C. "Lincoln and the Abolitionists," The iW lson Quarterly, 8(2000), 58-70. This is the authors's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/histfac/1 This open access article is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lincoln and the Abolitionists Abstract It has always been one of the ironies of the era of the Civil War and the end of slavery in the United States that the man who played the role of Great Emancipator of the slaves was so hugely mistrusted and so energetically vilified by the party of abolition. Abraham Lincoln, whatever his larger reputation as the liberator of more than three million black slaves in the Emancipation Proclamation, has never entirely shaken off the er putation of being something of a half-heart about it. [excerpt] Disciplines History | United States History This article is available at The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/histfac/1 5. "FIENDS...FACING ZIONWARDS": ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S RELUCTANT EMBRACE OF THE ABOLITIONISTS It has always been one of the ironies of the era of the Civil War and the end of slavery in the United States that the man who played the role of Great Emancipator of the slaves was so hugely mistrusted and so energetically vilified by the party of abolition.
    [Show full text]
  • Oberlin and the Fight to End Slavery, 1833-1863
    "Be not conformed to this world": Oberlin and the Fight to End Slavery, 1833-1863 by Joseph Brent Morris This thesis/dissertation document has been electronically approved by the following individuals: Baptist,Edward Eugene (Chairperson) Bensel,Richard F (Minor Member) Parmenter,Jon W (Minor Member) “BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD”: OBERLIN AND THE FIGHT TO END SLAVERY, 1833-1863 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Joseph Brent Morris August 2010 © 2010 Joseph Brent Morris “BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD”: OBERLIN AND THE FIGHT TO END SLAVERY, 1833-1863 Joseph Brent Morris, Ph. D. Cornell University 2010 This dissertation examines the role of Oberlin (the northern Ohio town and its organically connected college of the same name) in the antislavery struggle. It traces the antislavery origins and development of this Western “hot-bed of abolitionism,” and establishes Oberlin—the community, faculty, students, and alumni—as comprising the core of the antislavery movement in the West and one of the most influential and successful groups of abolitionists in antebellum America. Within two years of its founding, Oberlin’s founders had created a teachers’ college and adopted nearly the entire student body of Lane Seminary, who had been dismissed for their advocacy of immediate abolition. Oberlin became the first institute of higher learning to admit men and women of all races. America's most famous revivalist (Charles Grandison Finney) was among its new faculty as were a host of outspoken proponents of immediate emancipation and social reform.
    [Show full text]
  • Abolitionists Were Bullied from a Case Study Christian Philanthropists in Britain the Moment They First Stuck Their and America Got Deeply Involved Heads Up
    here have been principled Leaders of the charity brilliantly objections to slavery for orchestrated massive shifts in Tas long as there has been public sentiment. slavery—which is to say, from the first days of human history. Organizing culture change But hatred of enslavement didn’t Culture change is not for cowards, become a mass conviction until and abolitionists were bullied from A case study Christian philanthropists in Britain the moment they first stuck their and America got deeply involved heads up. Changing Society through Civil Action in popular campaigns to expose As part of their broader effort to slavery as an ugly, immoral, and refine Americans through worship, sinful activity, utterly incompatible education, discussion, and service, with life in a free land. This was Arthur and Lewis Tappan had in demanding and dangerous work 1832 leased a tatterdemalion old that required guile, endurance, theater in lower Manhattan and commitment, courage, managerial converted it into a church. The genius, and money. The movement building “squatted in the midst 64 got all of these things from leaders of the slums” next to Five Points, Abolition like Arthur and Lewis Tappan. a neighborhood notorious for Fired by their deep evangelical its gangs and grog shops. During Christian convictions, the Tappan recent years the theater had been brothers were leading providers of home to a circus, and with his strategy and funding to the cause sharp nose for drama and public of abolishing slavery. (They also interest, Lewis noted that “the powered many other important sensation produced by converting social reforms. For some biography the place with slight alterations on the men, see the last third of into a church will be very great, the case study on the Second Great and curiousity will be excited.” Awakening.) Arthur was the lead The Tappans placed their funder and visionary, and Lewis the Chatham Street Chapel at the vital organizer, behind creation of disposal of Charles Grandison the American Anti-Slavery Society.
    [Show full text]
  • The Abolitionists' Postal Campaign of 1835
    THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY VOL. L-OCTOBER, 1965-No. 4 THE ABOLITIONISTS' POSTAL CAMPAIGN OF 1835 Abolitionism in 1835 had reached a crisis. The American Anti-Slavery Society had been founded in 1833, but its aims were still unknown to most Americans. Hampered by inade- quate funds, the New York headquarters had not yet under- taken a large-scale missionary campaign nor had it issued an impressive number of pamphlets and journals. The society's Emancipator was a dull paper, whose bland editorials re- flected the timidity of the New York abolitionists. Moreover, antislavery leadership had nearly divided over William Lloyd Garrison's outspoken radicalism. Arthur Tappan, President of the Society, and his merchant associates on the executive committee suspected that Garrison, the Boston firebrand, was earning more enemies for the cause than friends. For a time in early 1835 Arthur Tappan's dissatisfaction with the Gar- risonians nearly caused him to leave the movement.1 It was essential for the antislavery society to reorganize its publications, to raise more funds, and to resolve internal bickerings in common effort. Above all, by the spring of 1835 the time had come to make the country aware of abolitionism. In response to the need for publicity, the New York leaders decided to flood the country with antislavery literature. The 1Liberator (Boston), December 27, 1834, January 17, 24, 31, February 7, 1835; Arthur Tappan to Amos A. Phelps, January 17, 1836; Elizur Wright to Amos A. Phelps, January 22, 1835, Amos A. Phelps MSS, Boston Public Library; Lewis Tappan to William Lloyd Garrison, February 5, 1835, William Lloyd Gar- rison MSS, Boston Public Library; Elizur Wright to Theodore Weld, March 16, 1835, Gilbert Hobbes Barnes and Dwight L.
    [Show full text]
  • Rescue America in an Era of Political Frustration
    Reprinted from the Winter 2017 issue of Philanthropy magazine (PhilMag.org) How private givers can Rescue America in an era of political frustration By Karl Zinsmeister 14 PHILANTHROPY half of the nineteenth century. Many Americans felt there was something going profoundly wrong. Millions pined for thoroughgoing reform. One impressive young attorney warned a Midwestern audience in 1838 that “There is something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to were tested and proven by previous substitute the wild and furious passions philanthropists. We need only follow in lieu of sober judgment.” That young their blazes to find our own successful lawyer was named Abraham Lincoln. routes to culture change and social Welcome to Jacksonian America. refinement. I’m going to take you in this Its new party system included the essay to eras that were crucial in setting idea that winners of elections earned up our country for its great success, eras the right to stuff the government that have a huge amount to teach us with their cronies, and often their today about our problems, and how we pockets with silver. From the national might solve them. capital to Tammany Hall, this was an era of fraud, embezzlement, and Been there, done that self-enrichment at the public trough. I’ll begin by painting a little picture Elections turned into circuses. for you. Votes were openly traded for booze, Demagogues and pundits have jobs, or favors. One South Carolinian abandoned serious discussion of principles observed that “civilization” retreats more ots of Americans have grown and stooped to slanders, falsehood, in one month before an election than it discouraged over the last decade trickery, and the “scalping and roasting can advance in six months afterward.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical Background for the Antebellum Slavery Debates, 1776-1865 1 Stroud's Compendium of the Laws of Slavery 5 Population Statistics from the U
    • CONTENTS • LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS X111 PROLOGUE xv PREFACE XXI INTRODUCTION XXVI1 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS lxi SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING lxiii CHAPTER 1 The Historical Background for the Antebellum Slavery Debates, 1776-1865 1 Stroud's Compendium of the Laws of Slavery 5 Population Statistics from the U. S. Census for 1790-1860 6 Summary from The Atlantic Slave Trade Project 7 The European Origins of American Slavery 7 by Arthur Kinney SAMUEL SEWALL (1632-1730) AND JOHN SAFFIN (1632-1710) 10 The Selling ofJoseph: A Memorial 12 by Samuel Sewall A Brie] Candid Answer to a Late Printed Sheet, Entitled, The Selling of Joseph 14 by John Saffin JOHN WOOLMAN (1720-1772) 15 Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes 16 CHAPTER 2 Acts of Congress Relating to Slavery 20 The Declaration of Independence 21 The Ordinance of 1787 23 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 23 The Missouri Compromise of 1820 25 The Wilmot Proviso, 1847 25 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 26 The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 30 vi • CONTENTS SLAVERY AND THE 1787 CONSTITUTION 31 FREDERICK DOUGLASS (c. 1818-1895) 33 What to the Slave Is the Fourth ifJuly? 38 JUSTICE JOSEPH STORY (1779-1845) 43 A Charge Delivered to the Grand Jury if the Circuit Court if the United States 45 CHAPTER 3 Biblical Proslavery Arguments 51 THORNTON STRINGFELLOW (1788-1869) 61 A Brief Examination if the Scripture Testimony on the Institution if Slavery 63 Slavery, Its Origin, Nature, and History Considered in the Light if Bible Teachings, Moral Justice, and Political Wisdom 67 ALEXANDER
    [Show full text]
  • Combating Slavery and Colonization: Student Abolitionism and the Politics of Antislavery in Higher Education, 1833-1841
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses July 2015 Combating Slavery and Colonization: Student Abolitionism and the Politics of Antislavery in Higher Education, 1833-1841 Michael E. Jirik University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Intellectual History Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Jirik, Michael E., "Combating Slavery and Colonization: Student Abolitionism and the Politics of Antislavery in Higher Education, 1833-1841" (2015). Masters Theses. 205. https://doi.org/10.7275/6953930 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/205 This Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMBATING SLAVERY AND COLONIZATION: STUDENT ABOLITIONISM AND THE POLITICS OF ANTISLAVERY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 1833-1841 A Thesis Presented by MICHAEL E. JIRIK Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS MAY 2015 Department of History COMBATING SLAVERY AND COLONIZATION: STUDENT ABOLITIONISM AND THE POLITICS OF ANTISLAVERY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 1833-1841 A Thesis Presented By MICHAEL E. JIRIK Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________ Sarah Cornell, Chair _______________________________ Manisha Sinha, Member _______________________________ Barbara Krauthamer, Member ________________________________ Joye Bowman, Chair History Department ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my undergraduate mentors, Professors Greg Kaster and Doug Huff.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spring Street Church in the Age of Abolition
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations and Theses City College of New York 2018 The Spring Street Church in the Age of Abolition David S. Pultz CUNY City College of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/734 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] The Spring Street Church in the Age of Abolition David Pultz B.F.A. Emerson College, 1976 Thesis Advisor – John Blanton, PhD Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts of the City College of the City University of New York Thesis Research B9900 December 10, 2018 1 2 Contents Introduction P. 4 Methodology P. 12 A City in Transition P. 14 Early History of the Spring Street Church P. 16 Rev. Samuel H. Cox and “Disinterested Benevolence” P. 19 Rev. Henry G. Ludlow and the Antislavery Church P. 21 Profile of a Congregation P. 26 The Free Church Movement and Social Reform P. 29 American Anti-Slavery Society P. 34 Anti-Abolitionist Riots of 1834 P. 39 Women in the Antislavery Public Sphere P. 47 Rev. William Patton, 1837 - 1847 P. 50 Conclusion P. 55 Bibliography P. 60 3 On a sweltering, hot early July day in 1834 a massive and destructive riot broke out in lower Manhattan. It lasted for three days before the forceful presence of the New York State Militia brought it to an end.
    [Show full text]
  • Stark Mad Abolitionists’: Anti-Slavery Conversion in the United States, 1824-1854
    1 The Making of the North’s ‘Stark Mad Abolitionists’: Anti-Slavery Conversion in the United States, 1824-1854 Jonathan Earle1 Department of History The University of Kansas In the late 1920s an economics professor at Ohio Wesleyan University stumbled upon a forgotten trunk in an attic belonging to Dr. L.D.H. Weld. The trunk contained the papers and letters of the abolitionists Theodore Dwight Weld and Angelina Grimké Weld, and opened up a rich, untapped source of material about the anti-slavery movement. The professor, Gilbert Hobbs Barnes, noticed dramatic differences between the Welds’ abolitionism and that of the far more famous William Lloyd Garrison, the central figure in most accounts of American anti-slavery. Perhaps most significantly, Weld’s abolitionism was inextricably linked with the concept of conversion: from his own conversion (to Christ) at the hands of the evangelical revivalist Charles Grandison Finney to his subsequent conversion of countless others to the religious crusade against slavery. Garrison and his New England supporters may have been religious men and women (ranging from John Greenleaf Whittier's Quakerism to Theodore Parker’s New Agey transcendentalism), but few of them could match Weld’s direct link to the Great Revival and the Second Great Awakening – to sudden, emotionally-wrenching conversion. Barnes’ book The Anti-Slavery Impulse, published in 1933, seriously challenged the prevailing interpretations of his day. Instead of putting a small group of New 2 England agitators front and center in the anti-slavery struggle, Barnes inserted a groundswell of evangelical westerners, “turned on” to their crusade by a tousled, wild- eyed evangelical preacher.
    [Show full text]
  • Immediate Emancipation," and the Birth of the American Anti-Slavery Society
    Ira V. Brown PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY PENNSYLVANIA, "IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION," AND THE BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY During the 1820s the focus of antislavery attention was the Ameri- DJcan Colonization Society, with its program of gradual, compen- sated emancipation combined with resettlement of the blacks in Africa. The whole slavery question took on a new dimension about 1830, when William Lloyd Garrison assumed the leadership of the antislavery movement. Then in his middle twenties (he was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1805), he attracted national attention in 1829 when he wrote for Benjamin Lundy's newspaper The Genius of Universal Emancipation a blistering personal attack on a New England slave trader. He was arrested and imprisoned for libel in Baltimore, where the slaver was operating and where Lundy's paper was then being published. Arthur Tappan, a wealthy New York merchant and philan- thropist, who became the chief financial pillar of abolitionism, paid his fine and got him released from jail. While confined behind bars, Garrison busied himself writing and prepared a series of lectures for delivery on his release.' After vain attempts to obtain the use of an auditorium in Baltimore for these addresses, the young crusader headed for Philadelphia, where he was able to secure a lecture hall in the Franklin Institute building. There he lectured on three successive evenings, August 31 and Septem- ber 1 and 2,1830 to audiences consisting chiefly of Quakers and blacks.2 There also he met several individuals who were to be his allies in the strenuous campaign against slavery he was about to inaugurate, most notably James and Lucretia Mott, who became the central figures in Pennsylvania abolitionism during the next generation.
    [Show full text]