The Transformation of American Abolitionism

Richard S. Newman

Description

Most accounts date the birth of American abolitionism to 1831, when William Lloyd Garrison began publishing his radical antislavery newspaper, The Liberator. In fact, however, the abolition movement had been born with the American Republic. In the decades following the Revolution, abolitionists worked steadily to eliminate slavery and racial injustice, and their tactics and strategies constantly evolved. Tracing the development of the abolitionist movement from the 1770s to the 1830s, Richard Newman focuses particularly on its transformation from a conservative lobbying effort into a fiery grassroots reform cause.

What began in late-eighteenth-century Pennsylvania as an elite movement espousing gradual legal reform began to change in the 1820s as black activists, female reformers, and nonelite whites pushed their way into the antislavery movement. Located primarily in Massachusetts, these new reformers demanded immediate emancipation, and they revolutionized abolitionist strategies and tactics--lecturing extensively, publishing gripping accounts of life in bondage, and organizing on a grassroots level. Their attitudes and actions made the abolition movement the radical cause we view it as today.

Sujets

• Revolutionary Periode
• Histoire
• United States
• History

Informations

• Publié par: The University of North Carolina Press
• Date de parution: 03 avril 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780807860458
• Langue: English

Extrait

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION Abolitionist Transformations
CHAPTER ONE - Republican Strategists: The Pennsylvania Abolition Society
CHAPTER TWO - Deferential Petitioners: The Pennsylvania Abolition Society in State and Federal Government, 1790-1830
CHAPTER THREE - Creating Free Spaces: Blacks and Abolitionist Activism in Pennsylvania Courts, 1780s-1830s 60
CHAPTER FOUR - An Appeal to the Heart: The Black Protest Tradition and the Coming of Immediatism
CHAPTER FIVE - From Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, from Colonization to Immediatism: Race and the Overhaul of American Abolitionism
CHAPTER SIX - The New Abolitionist Imperative: Mass Action Strategies
CHAPTER SEVEN - A Whole Lot of Shoe Leather: Agents and the Impact of Grassroots Organizing in Massachusetts during the 1830s
EPILOGUE The Struggle Continued
APPENDIX ONE Letters from Maryland Slaveholders to Judge William Tilghman, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Regarding Fugitive Slaves
APPENDIX TWO Maps 1A-D. Agent Travels in Massachusetts
2. Liberator Subscriptions in Massachusetts, 1830-1840
NOTES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN ABOLITIONISM
FIGHTING SLAVERY IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC
RICHARD S. NEWMAN
The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill and London
2002 The University of North Carolina Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins Set in Carter Cone Galliard by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
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.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Newman, Richard S. The transformation of American abolitionism: fighting slavery in the early Republic / by Richard S. Newman. p. cm. Based upon the author s dissertation. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8078-2671-5 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 0-8078-4998-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) eISBN : 9780807860458
1. Antislavery movements-United States-History-18th century. 2. Antislavery movements-United States-History-19th century. 3. Abolitionists-United States-History. 4. African Americans- Politics and government-18th century. 5. African Americans-Politics and government-19th century. 6. United States-Race relations. 7. Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. 8. Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. 9. Social change-United States-History-18th century. 10. Social change-United States- History-19th century. I. Title.
E446 .N58 2002 326.8 0973-dc21 2001027913
06 05 04 03 02 5 4 3 2 1
For my mother and father
PREFACE
HISTORY IS THE study of change over time. While my undergraduate and graduate mentors constantly drummed this historian s axiom into my head, I began this project to study the continuity of the American abolitionist movement between the American Revolution and the 1830s. Although abolitionism is a well-studied topic, I wanted to examine the less-well-known pre-Garrisonian phase as a prelude to movements of the 1830s. An abolitionist was always an abolitionist, I thought.
Yet as I researched the tactics and strategies of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the world s first and now oldest such group, I discovered that early abolitionism differed almost completely from later movements to end slavery-in terms of racial and gender composition, day-to-day tactics, and overall strategies. In the middle of the project, then, and with some critical mentoring, I realized that I had to talk about change: the transformation of abolitionism during the early republic. The task thus became one of explaining how the abolition movement started in one place, ended in another, and completely altered its public face to become the well-known movement we still remember today.
I AM ONE OF THOSE people who turns first to the acknowledgments section of any book I pick up. Did the author go it alone or surf on a wave of help-and did he or she thank properly those renderers of aid? I could not imagine finishing this book without the incredible support of dozens of generous people. It is a pleasure to thank them now in print. I will start with those institutions that provided funding at various stages of the dissertation on which this work is based. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, I received support from The Mark Diamond Foundation (in the form of extended travel grants), the Department of History (in the form of a critical Plesur fifth-year dissertation fellowship), and both the Graduate Student Association and the Graduate History Association (for supporting shorter research trips). The Library Company of Philadelphia and the Massachusetts Historical Society provided invaluable support in the form of Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships. Rummaging through stacks of Americana in Philadelphia and Boston, exchanging views with other scholars in residence or passing through, and generally benefiting from the enormous wisdom of the staffs of these two wonderful institutions, I felt lucky indeed. At the Library Company, I wish to express my particular gratitude to John C. Van Horne, Phil Lapsansky, and James Green, each of whom made me feel at home during an early research summer. At the Massachusetts Historical Society, I similarly would like to thank Conrad Wright, Donald Yacovone, and Virginia Smith for always being wise and helpful. I also must thank the staffs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Boston Public Library, and the Boston Athenaeum for their courtesy and help.
At conferences, numerous scholars have molded my thought, challenged my claims, and illustrated how much I still have to learn. Both the dissertation and the revised manuscript benefited from informative and sometimes lively exchanges with James and Lois Horton, Robert Forbes, Donald Yacovone, Julie Winch, Ron Walters, Robert McColley, David Wald-streicher, J. Morgan Kousser, Michael Morrison, Jim Green, Richard Dunn, Chris Densmore, Susan Wyly-Jones, Eva Sheppard, George Price, Roy Finkenbine, and Patrick Rael. They are not responsible for any errors that remain, but they must assume responsibility for making this a better book than it otherwise would have been. James Brewer Stewart deserves special mention for his advice and friendship-two invaluable commodities to a young scholar. Jim has been a tireless advocate of my work and a model in more ways than I can recount here. I can only hope to repay him more properly someday. At Brown University, Gordon Wood and Abbott Gleason provided critical support for which I remain eternally in their debt. At suny Buffalo, where I received a terrific undergraduate and graduate education, numerous professors, colleagues, and friends helped me along the way: Richard Fly, Ken Dauber, Neil Schmitz, John Milligan, Susan Cahn, John Naylor, Orville Murphy, Georg Iggers, William Allen, Chris Forth, among many others. I also thank Scott Henderson for his eternal good cheer and support and Derrick Krisoff for many spirited conversations. Legendary teacher Robert Pope taught me to always be a teacher, and rarely a day goes by when I fail to think of his words and example. I have been the richer for his advice, but the profession lost much when he retired early.
I was lucky to have the support of some great friends during the early stages of the work. David and Jennifer Blaustein welcomed me to their home in Philadelphia when I was first researching the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and then miraculously moved to Boston when I announced that I needed to research Massachusetts abolitionists. I cannot imagine having done the same work without them. At Clarion University, the crew of Paul Hart, Tim Collins, Catherine Petrassans, Dwayne and Pam Mulder, and Carol Englehart offered constant diversion. Beverly Smaby and Frank Towers provided a temporary but critical home for me to begin thinking about the revised manuscript. At the Rochester Institute of Technology, my thanks go to Rebecca Edwards, Glenn Kist, Ken Nelson, and my colleagues in both the History Department and the Liberal Arts College for their continued support. Andrew Moore generously provided monetary support from the Dean s Office for the manuscript s timely completion. Frank Annuziata called me one night and asked, Are you a cool guy? Little did I know that I would be in Rochester soon and loving it; I still owe Frank much.
Everyone at the University of North Carolina Press has helped make this a better book through their constant encouragement and friendly assistance. My thanks to Ruth Homrighaus, Ron Maner, and Mark Simpson-Vos for their aid and support. Stevie Champion did heroic work copyediting the manuscript, for which I want to thank her deeply. Charles Grench seamlessly assumed the project after arriving at the UNC Press and assured its success. Although no longer at the Press, Alison Waldenberg also deserves special mention for expressing early and continued interest in the project. Finally, thank you to the anonymous reviewers and to Waldo Martin for their supportive, generous comments.
My dissertation committee members remain the most important group of all. They moved me with their concern, intimidated me with their critiques, and humbled me with their wisdom. Richard Ellis virtually compelled me to become a historian by virtue of his dynamic classroom presence and scholarly example. Tamara P. Thornton taught me much about cultural history and professionalism-she never let me off the hook at any stage of the project. Michael Frisch influenced nearly every aspect of my teaching and research. The questions he asked me and all of his students about the processes of