Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ANTI-SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY 1800-1830 CHAPTER III The emancipationists were indeed defeated in the constitutional convention of 1799 but they by no means accepted their defeat as final. On the contrary, they made attempts almost every year to secure the passage of a bill ordering that the sense of the people be taken on calling a new convention.1 These bills frequently passed the House. Although they were designed to secure only the gradual, not the immediate, abolition of slavery,2 the pro-slavery men viewed with such uneasiness and alarm every attempt on the part of the anti-slavery minority to reopen the question in any form that the bills were always defeated in the Senate. Niles, in his Weekly Register, summed up the situation in these words: In Kentucky, I am told by several gentlemen of high standing, there is so strong an opposition to slavery, that the chief slave-holders have long feared to call a convention to alter the constitution, though much desired, lest measures should be adopted that might lead to gradual emancipation. He then predicted that before many years Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri would follow the lead of Pennsylvania and cease to be slaveholding states as well from principle as from interest.3 Slavery was brought before the legislature in many other ways. Bills intended to encourage voluntary emancipation, to ameliorate the condition of the slave, and to secure the enactment of more rigid importation laws were repeatedly introduced. The advocates of these measures declared openly that the purpose of such legislation was to prepare the state for gradual emancipation through a change in the constitution.4 The question of slavery was brought before the people of Kentucky in 1819 and 1820 in connection with the discussions in Congress conce...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

As one of only two states in the nation to still allow slavery by the time of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, Kentucky's history of slavery runs deep. Based on extensive research, The Antislavery Movement in Kentucky focuses on two main antislavery movements that emerged in Kentucky during the early years of opposition. By 1820, Kentuckians such as Cassius Clay called for the emancipation of slaves—a gradual end to slavery with compensation to owners. Others, such as Delia Webster, who smuggled three fugitive slaves across the Kentucky border to freedom in Ohio, advocated for abolition—an immediate and uncompensated end to the institution. Neither movement was successful, yet the tenacious spirit of those who fought for what they believed contributes a proud chapter to Kentucky history.

Excerpt from The Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky, Prior to 1850: A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy While much has been written concerning the anti - slavery movement in the United States, the work of historians has been chiefly directed toward the radical movement associated with the name of William Lloyd Garrison. This has often been done at the expense of and sometimes to the total neglect of those who favored gradual emancipation. This inequality of treatment has been accredited to the fact that the Garrisonian abolitionists were exceedingly active and vigorous in their propaganda and not to any preponderance of numbers or larger historical sig nificance. The gradual emancipationists, unlike the followers of Garrison who were restricted to the free states, were found in all parts of the Union. They embraced great numbers of the leaders in politics, business, and education; and while far more numerous in the free than in the slave states they nevertheless included a large and respectable element in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. It was to be expected that the gradual emancipationists in these border states would act with conservatism. They were themselves sometimes slave holders and in any event they saw the difficulties and dangers of any sort of emancipation. Their number was, however, too considerable and their activities too noteworthy to warrant the neglect which they have received at the hands of the historians of the anti-slavery movement. In this volume I have attempted to relate the history of the anti-slavery movement in Kentucky to the year 1850 with special emphasis upon the work of the gradual emancipationists. I intend later to prepare a second volume which will carry the study to 1870; and I hope that the appearance of this work will encourage the promotion of similar studies in the other border states. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Between 1783 and 1860, more than 100,000 enslaved African Americans escaped across the border between slave and free territory in search of freedom. Most of these escapes were unaided, but as the American anti-slavery movement became more militant after 1830, assisted escapes became more common. Help came from the Underground Railroad, which still stands as one of the most powerful and sustained multiracial human rights movements in world history. This work examines and interprets the available historical evidence about fugitive slaves and the Underground Railroad in Kentucky, the southernmost sections of the free states bordering Kentucky along the Ohio River, and, to a lesser extent, the slave states to the immediate south. Kentucky was central to the Underground Railroad because its northern boundary, the Ohio River, represented a three hundred mile boundary between slavery and nominal freedom. The book examines the landscape of Kentucky and the surrounding states; fugitive slaves before 1850, in the 1850s and during the Civil War; and their motivations and escape strategies and the risks involved with escape. The reasons why people broke law and social convention to befriend fugitive slaves, common escape routes, crossing points through Kentucky from Tennessee and points south, and specific individuals who provided assistance--all are topics covered.

When originally published, A New History of Kentucky provided a comprehensive study of the Commonwealth, bringing it to life by revealing the many faces, deep traditions, and historical milestones of the state. With new discoveries and findings, the narrative continues to evolve, and so does the telling of Kentucky's rich history. In this second edition, authors James C. Klotter and Craig Thompson Friend provide significantly revised content with updated material on gender politics, African American history, and cultural history. This wide-ranging volume includes a full overview of the state and its economic, educational, environmental, racial, and religious histories. At its essence, Kentucky's story is about its people -- not just the notable and prominent figures but also lesser-known and sometimes overlooked personalities. The human spirit unfolds through the lives of individuals such as Shawnee peace chief Nonhelema Hokolesqua and suffrage leader Madge Breckinridge, early land promoter John Filson, author Wendell Berry, and Iwo Jima flag--raiser Private Franklin Sousley. They lived on a landscape defined by its topography as much as its political boundaries, from Appalachia in the east to the Jackson Purchase in the west, and from the Walker Line that forms the Commonwealth's southern boundary to the Ohio River that shapes its northern boundary. Along the journey are traces of Kentucky's past -- its literary and musical traditions, its state-level and national political leadership, and its basketball and bourbon. Yet this volume also faces forthrightly the Commonwealth's blemishes -- the displacement of Native Americans, African American enslavement, the legacy of violence, and failures to address poverty and poor health. A New History of Kentucky ranges throughout all parts of the Commonwealth to explore its special meaning to those who have called it home. It is a broadly interpretive, all-encompassing narrative that tells Kentucky's complex, extensive, and ever-changing story.