Anti-Abolitionist Riots

The Boston Riot of October 28^th 1835 occurred when a pro-slavery mob went looking British abolitionist George Thomas.

There were riots in New York City and Philadelphia in 1834 led by anti-abolitionist.  In early 1835 British abolitionist George Thompson and the poet John Greenleaf Whittier were stoned in Concord, New Hampshire by pro-slavery people.   In October 1835 Thompson was invited to speak at the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Boston, Massachusetts.  Boston was where William Lloyd Garrison published “The Liberator” a popular abolitionist newspaper.

A mob of anti-abolitionist formed October 28^th 1835 and went to the Society looking for Thompson.  They found Garrison instead, tied him and dragged him by the rope through the streets.  Boston’s mayor rescued Garrison, and put him in jail for the night, for his own safety.

An Early Civil Rights Fighter

Benjamin Lundy a Quaker, abolitionist, and the publisher of several anti-slavery newspapers died August 22nd 1839.


Benjamin Lundy born was January 4th 1789 in New Jersey. He worked on the family farm, and attended local schools. In 1815 while living in ST Clairsville, Ohio he founded the Union Humane Society. Shortly after in 1821 he began publishing the “Genius of Universal Emancipation” in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. Lundy met William Lloyd Garrison in 1829 and they co-edited the paper. Lundy traveled lecturing on anti-slavery, and searching for a home place for escaped slaves to colonize. This included two trips to Haiti in 1825 and 1829, and the Canadian Wilberforce Colony in 1831. He moved to Lowell, La Salle, Illinois where he died August 22nd 1839.

A good web site for more information is Benjamin Lundy
Pioneer Quaker Abolitionist, 1789-1839

Slavery Immoral and Non Christian

The New England Anti-Slavery Society was formed by William Lloyd Garrison on January 6th 1832.

The New England Anti-Slavery Society was located in Boston, Massachusetts. It supported abolition, viewing slavery as immoral and non-Christian. The society also opposed sending freed slaves back to Africa. The society sent out lecturers through out New England. They would speak in churches and town halls, encouraging the formation of more local anti-slavery societies. They held yearly anti-slavery conventions to mobilize their members. By 1833 there 33 societies in New England alone.

Follow The North Star

The first edition of the abolitionist newspaper the “North Star” was published on December 3rd 1847, by former slave Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass an escaped slave, was inspired in 1838 after reading “The Liberator”, a newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison. “The Liberator” was a weekly newspaper that supported a non-violent emancipation of slaves. Douglass’ supporters who helped buy his freedom, assisted him in acquiring a printing press. Douglass decided his African American newspaper would push for a anti-slavery political movement. Paying no attention to the advice of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Douglass published his first edition of the “North Star” in Rochester New York on December 3rd 1847. Douglass named his paper the “North Star” because runaway slaves followed the north star to freedom. He stated that his goals were to, “abolish slavery in all its forms and aspects, promote the moral and intellectual improvement of the colored people, and hasten the day of freedom to the Three Millions of our enslaved fellow countrymen."

Another interesting web site on this subject
State Archives Study of the Legacy of Slavery

The Last Issue

The last issue of “The Liberator” was published today December 29th 1865 by William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison felt his goal of the “extermination of chattel slavery” had succeeded.

William Lloyd Garrison born December 12th 1805 in Newburyport,MA, was a journalist, social reformer and abolitionist. In 1831 he founded a weekly newspaper in Boston,MA; “The Liberator” dedicated to anti-slavery information. The paper had a slow start with less than 400 subscribers in its second year. “The Liberator" did grow in numbers and influence over the three decades leading up to the Civil War. The last issue; number 1,820, was published December 29,1865. Mr. Garrison wrote in this last issue, “The object for which the Liberator was commenced—the extermination of chattel slavery—having been gloriously consummated, it seems to me specially appropriate to let its existence cover the historic period of the great struggle; leaving what remains to be done to complete the work of emancipation to other instrumentalities”.

Also worth a look

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1561.html

http://www.sujal.net/cities/laterlife.html