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Much of Chapter 13 in both The Rise of American Democracy and Inhuman Bondage focus on the gradual steps America took towards abolitionism during the mid 19th century. The most interesting part of the reading, to me, was learning about the hardships that northern abolitionists faced from fellow northerners during the 1830’s. The fight for abolitionism in America is so often characterized as a North vs. South battle that it’s easy to forget that during the early stages of the battle, northern abolitionist faced extreme adversity from their northern neighbors. Sean Wilentz does a great job of describing the pattern of violence towards northern abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison, a tremendously important player in the movement, who was forced to flee from a scheduled address in New York in 1833 (211). Wells King talks more about Garrison and abolitionism in America in this blog post (http://sites.davidson.edu/his141/american-abolition-liberation-or-genocide/). Garrison was not the only one who faced aggression either. Wilentz explains that havoc wreaking mobs that fought abolitionism sprouted up in Philadelphia, Hartford, Utica, Washington, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in 1834 and 1835 (212). It was interesting to learn that most of these mobs were ran by political and social elites who “abhorred the abolitionists’ challenge to their own social authority” (213). To me, this suggests that the anti-abolitionists were less concerned with the issue of slavery and more concerned with having their political power threatened. Looking forward, it’ll be interesting to learn how in just two decades, the sentiment towards slavery in the north became so collectively negative that the country split and went to war.
The role of the President in this situation is also notable. Both authors touch on it in their respective chapters. Wilentz chides President Jackson for his inability or unwillingness to enforce the 1836 Post Office Law. In not enforcing the law, southern postmasters often did not deliver abolitionists tracts that argued the merits of ending slavery. Davis, the author of Inhuman Bondage argues that Jackson failed to enforce the law because he “greatly valued the South’s electoral advantage in counting three-fifths for purposes of representation” (261). These sections of each chapter emphasize the importance of the President in regards to the issue of slavery. It also shows how impactful having a President who leaned one way or another on the issue could be.