An important new way of thinking about the origins of the Civil War.
Bringing together the best new scholarship in the field, “The Antislavery Bulwark: The Antislavery Origins of the Civil War” points toward an important new way of thinking about the origins of the Civil War. The conference considers how the activities of antislavery Americans ultimately contributed to Southern secession and war. It places less emphasis on the radical abolitionist “vanguard” than o
12/02/2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4BW7OPD4HA
The Antislavery Bulwark: The Antislavery Origins of the Civil War – Intro & Keynote Bringing together the best new scholarship in the field, The Antislavery Bulwark: The Antislavery Origins of the Civil War, held October 17 & 18 at the CUNY ...
“The right of property in the persons of slaves is not the same, either in nature or extent, as the right of property acquired in things that have a natural existence, over which the owner has a power of absolute and unlimited dominion and disposal.” -- William Slade, 1837
10/15/2014
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/Public-Programming/Calendar/Detail?id=26955
The Graduate Center, CUNY - Detail The Graduate Center, The City University of New York Established in 1961, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) is devoted primarily to doctoral studies and awards most of CUNY's doctoral degrees. An internationally recognized center for advanced studies and a national model…
“[I]t has been well said, that [the domestic slave trade] is the great jugular vein of slavery. And if Congress will employ the same weapon with which it clove down the foreign trade, to cut this internal artery, the monster would die --- starvation would slowly but surely consume him in his southern, and apoplexy in his northern abode.” – Henry Stanton, 1837
“The case is stronger for Liberty on the ocean than on the land – for the Earth may be, has been, subjugated by the iron hand of Power; but the free, the untamed Sea, disdains the puny grasp of the mightiest earthly despots – laughs to scorn 'the peculiar institutions,' dear and well-guarded though they may be at home, of people, however chivalrous. ... Once out of American jurisdiction, American law cannot be applied to [seaborne slaves] as slaves; the only law that can be applied is the universal law of nature. Out of American jurisdiction, they are the subjects of no Government.” -- Judge William Jay, 1842
“We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of each State, to legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery which is tolerated within its limits; we concede that Congress, under the present national compact, has no right to interfere with any of the slave States, in relation to this momentous subject. But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly bound, to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several States, and to abolish slavery in those portions of our territory which the Constitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction.” -- "Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society," 1833
“The toleration of slavery is a national evil. It is the worst of robberies sanctioned by law.” -- Alexander M'Leod, "Negro Slavery Unjustifiable," 1802
“To abolish slavery, is to take from no rightful owner his property; but to 'establish justice' between the two parties. To emancipate the slave, is to 'establish justice' between him and his master – to throw around the person, character, conscience, liberty, and domestic relations of the one, the same law that secures and blesses the other. In other words, to prevent by legal restraints one class of men from seizing upon another class, and robbing them at pleasure of their earnings, their time, their liberty, their kindred, and the very use and ownership of their own persons. Finally, to abolish slavery is to proclaim and enact that innocence and helplessness – now free plunder – are entitled to legal protection; and that power, avarice, and lust, shall no longer gorge upon their spoils under the license, and the ministrations of law!” – Theodore Dwight Weld, "The Power of Congress over the District of Columbia," 1838
10/06/2014
'The Half Has Never Been Told,' by Edward E. Baptist A historian argues that the slave states were not a world apart but were crucial to American development.
“Can oppression and slavery prevail among any people who properly understand, and are suitably impressed with, those great gospel truths, that all men are, by nature, equal—children of the same common Father—dependent upon the same mighty power, and candidates for the same glorious immortality?” -- Samuel Miller, "A Sermon on the Anniversary of the Independence of America," 1793
10/05/2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/books/review/james-m-mcpherson-by-the-book.html?_r=0
James M. McPherson: By the Book The author, most recently, of “Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief” says that coming of age in Minnesota in the ’50s, he saw the South as “a mysterious, almost foreign land.”
“We are often reminded that we ought to take color as evidence of property in a human being. We do not believe in such evidence, nor do we believe that a man can justly be made property by human laws. We acknowledge, however, that a man, not a thing, may be held to service or labor under the laws of a State, and, if he escapes into another State, he ought to be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such labor or service may be due." -- Senator Thomas Morris, (D) Ohio, 1839