abolitionism
A term associated with protest on grounds of inhumanity and a call for the abolition of slavery (see, for example, the arguments of William Wilberforce, 1759–1833). More recently extended to the ...
African Diaspora
[This entry contains two subentries dealing with the African diaspora, from the origins of slave trade through nineteenth-century America. The first article focuses on the evolution and criticism of ...
Andrew Jackson
(1767–1845)US general and Democratic statesman, 7th President of the USA (1829–37). After waging several campaigns against American Indians, he defeated a British army at New Orleans (1815) and ...
Annexation of Dominican Republic
The annexation of the Dominican Republic was a goal of President Ulysses S. Grant from 1869 to 1871. When the issue became controversial, Frederick Douglass's willingness to serve as a ...
Anti-Masonic Party
A US political party of the 1820s and 1830s opposed to Freemasons. Formed in 1826 in the wake of the disappearance of William Morgan, a New York bricklayer alleged to have divulged lodge secrets, the ...
antislavery
Slavery was regarded in later 18th‐cent. Britain as essential to the exploitation of the West Indian colonies and there was strong opposition to any interference with the institution, particularly ...
Antislavery Movement
Frederick Douglass was perhaps the perfect embodiment of the American antislavery movement. As a young slave on a large Maryland plantation, he rebelled both physically and psychologically against ...
Compromise of 1850
A political compromise between the North and South of the USA. Initiated by Henry Clay, it became law in September 1850. In an attempt to resolve problems arising from slavery it provided for the ...
Emigration To Africa
As early as 1780 Americans debated the return of African Americans to Africa. This action was supported by people on both sides of the color line, primarily because whites thought ...
Florence Settlement
In New York during the late 1840s, Gerrit Smith, a wealthy abolitionist from Peterboro, Madison County, provided a rare opportunity for former slaves in Florence, an Oneida County village about ...
Fugitive Slave Act
(1850).Drafted by Senator James Y. Mason of Virginia and the product of months of contentious debate in the Senate, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was signed into law ...
Hutchinson Family
The Hutchinsons, a family of vocalists from Milford, New Hampshire, first appeared in public in November 1839. The brothers Judson, John, and Asa and their sister Abby frequently performed at ...
James Gillespie Birney
(b. 4 February 1792; d. 25 November 1857), abolitionist and two-time presidential candidate for the Liberty Party.James Gillespie Birney was born in Danville, Kentucky, to a slaveholding family. He ...
James Knox Polk
(1795–1849)US Democratic statesman, 11th President of the USA (1845–49). His term of office resulted in major territorial additions to the USA: Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845, and the ...
John C. Calhoun
(1782–1850)Calhoun has three claims to fame. One stems from his prominence as an American politician between 1811 and 1850. During that period he was, successively, an important member of the House ...
John Quincy Adams
(1767–1848)US Republican statesman, 6th President of the USA (1825–29). The eldest son of President John Adams, he was minister to Britain (1809–14). As Secretary of State (1817–24) he helped to ...
John Tyler
(1790–1862)US Whig statesman, 10th President of the USA (1841–45). Successor to William Henry Harrison as President, he was noted for securing the annexation of Texas (1845). Throughout his political ...
Jonathan Blanchard
(b. 19 January 1811; d. 14 May 1892), educator and social reformer.Jonathan Blanchard would become an heir of the principles of the evangelical postmillennial Christianity exemplified in America's ...
Liberia
Liberia has yet another peace agreement that could end decades of warfareThe most developed part of Liberia is the narrow coastal strip that extends around 50 kilometres inland. Behind this rises a ...
Liberty Party
The Liberty party was organized in Warsaw, New York, in 1839 by abolitionists convinced that they must take their decade-long antislavery propaganda campaign into the polling booth to accomplish ...
