>> guest: was always a small abolitionist movement. first of all, africans themselves were in the first abolitionists because they would just run away and stab roots and try to get away from theirmasters sand they land it. you have these advertisements e in colony newspapers, just survived, can't speak english, don't in the names or the names of their masters the true abolitionists arrived and said i have to get back to africa to someplace where i'm not treated this kind of way. then of course we have the quakers, early on, too. we have methodists early on as well. some germans as well. and then as africans began to gain their freedom, and they gained their freedom in different ways -- they, too, began to push themselves into and create an abolitionist movement. >> host: were slave revolts a common occurrence? >> guest: yes. people were always plotting, and trying to end the institution or end their part of the institution, the part that affected them. so they were quite, quite prevalent, but most of them were unrealized, because someo

to lower southern legislators much more threatening abolitionist terms. and i have here an image of the petition as it was submitted to congress. now, it's worth quoting from this petition at length to capture the scope of the attack on human bondage. i'm going to quote at length from this petition. from a regard for the happiness of mankind in association was formed several years ago in this state and here the petitioners refer to the pennsylvania abolitionist society. a just and accurate conception of the true principles of liberty as it spread through the land produced many friends to their cause in a legislative cooperation with their views. which have been successfully directed to the relieving from bondage a large number of their fellow creatures of the african race. and here the petitioners were referred to the pennsylvania abolition act of 1780. they, the petitioners, also have the satisfaction to observe that in consequence of that spirit of philanthropy and genuine liberty, which is generally diffusing, similar institutions are gradually forming

they were joined some extent to fight abolitionist man of them being quakers because we and lambert had been schooled and educated and lived among the quakers when we left trenton new jersey and arrived in detroit. he for me is a phenomenal individual because he was like one of the main conductors of the underground railroad. i know in my classes in new york city when i talked about the underground railroad the first thing in their mind is the a train. or the d train. you know as terms of the metaphorical way this is the byway in which these here fugitive slaves, to get away from bondage, to get away from so-called particular institution and end up in detroit. so this year and dwight's sculpture symbolizes the people and certainly after 850, we had the fugitive slave law when the actors passed it meant that although and we have the blackburn case, the blackburn affair. these runaway fugitives who arrived from louisville kentucky they thought they'd found a safe refuge away from these bounty hunters. but with the passing of the 1850 slave act that you have to go little bit further. so th

and white abolitionist had been working together. we knew that here in philadelphia, that other quakers flaunted their interracial nature, the groups of abolitionists. right? they would walk down the street arm in arm with people of color in philadelphia, and they would get beaten up and yelled at. but there is a way in which, a tradition of inter-racialism was them among abolitionists but she seems to have had very little contact, or she evidences very little experience working with people of color. >> it looks like another reason why she uses the pseudonym of ms. periwinkle. >> i think that is part of it. i think that is certainly part of it. and it might just be that the bostonian group of abolitionists with whom she rubbed elbows with, maybe they are a different class of these radical quakers here in philadelphia. anytime i get a chance of taking a pop shot at boston in favor of philadelphia, i am going to do it. so, i will stick with that even though i do have any evidence of that. [laughter] and also, it is also -- we have to m

others will have seen our boston abolitionist program in march. this afternoon, we bring you the voices and some dramatic stories of four generations of the adams family. our show tonight runs about an hour and 15 minutes. i've been asked by the assisting to announce something happening saturday at suffolk university. one nation indeterminable. it is five new place that have been written to confront the current situation that none of us can take our minds off. [laughter] >> one is by robert rubinstein. another by james carroll. poetstheater.org. you will find all the information you need. i hope you get a chance to see one nation and determinable. -- one nation indeterminable. upon the rich collection of books in this building. language is to unearth wherever we can find it and perform it in a dramatic framework with professional actors who can make the words saying. it's been a privilege to expand our work in this noble building so full of great books and fine arts. we must thank our talented colleagues here for making these shows possible. the m

he never identified himself as an abolitionist. abolitionists in this period identified themselves as pure and simple anticipate slavery people. cast aside all your other objections, loyalties, priorities, and throw yourself into the immediate abolition of slavery. he could never bring himself to that position. even until his the last entry in our collection is him expressing ongoing tension given all these other things that he's wrestling with even as a member of the house of representatives an inability to thoroughly identify himself as an abolitionist. in many ways this iconic anti-slavery period of his career nicely encapsulates this ongoing story of competing priorities and loyalties. >> okay. i'm just going to give a taste skipping ahead of this wonderful 1831, '32 period where he's gets elected to congress and is starting to think bigger and bigger about slavery as one of the great issues of the time and connect it to the issue of democracy. where he's thinking about what's going on in england and how maybe the conflict unli

douglass emerged as a radical abolitionist. precipitating his break with garrison and the emergence of this new, more aggressive political stance was congress's passage of the compromise of 1850, which strengthened the fugitive slave law on the books. following the passage of the firm up fugitive slave law, people in the northeast were the northeast, where slavery did not exist, were legally obliged to return fugitive slaves to their masters. from douglass's point of view, the compromise of 1850 with its fugitive slave law nationalized slavery and showed the importance of political resistance. for douglass, the greatest example of political resistance in american history came from the revolutionary fathers and mothers who chose in 1776 to declare their independence from great britain and to fight for their independence. that teakes us to 1852, the year that douglass gave what many regard as the greatest anti-slavery speech ever delivered in this country, "what to a slave is the fourth of "uly? it was an address delivered in roc

who weren't abolitionists, they weren't fire-eaters.ey just kind of wanted this whole thing to go away and things to be normal. how would you respond to that? >> john is such an expert on the political complexion of the north that i will be just very brief and say i think your point is very well taken. there are a lot of northerners who are not only sympathetic to buchanan's perspective. but as you said, who just want this whole thing to go away. they want to go about their business. i've been reading charles due's new book "the making of a a racist." it's an amazing book, i recommend it to all of you. in the book he spends time talking about the nature of the slave trade and what the profits were in the slave trade in the south. it's just be a shrewd slooutly amazing in 1959, 1860, how profitable it is to trade in human chattel. they just, most of these folks just want everything to go away. the people in the business in newark, new jersey, or boston, massachusetts, lowell mills, whatever, they want it to go away, too. that said, let's

they called isaac cody a noisy abolitionist. isaac cody joined the salt creek association -- i am indebted to doug for many of these images -- this is the salt creek valley near leavenworth. however, in kansas these squatters associations became 1854,oliticized and in isaac cody, at a meeting of the salt creek squatters association , prepped to say something -- he was in iowa and settled among all of these missourians. they pressured him to make a speech at the association meeting. he does so, and this is the speech in which his son says that isaac said he wanted kansas to be a white state, and he was assaulted by a missourian -- this is an image from cody from autobiography -- he is assaulted by a missourian the name of .harles dunn isaac lived. and the missouri newspaper that reports the knifing and calls him a noisy abolitionist says it man,grettable that this isaac cody, is going to live. isaac cody dies in 1857. always maintained he died from this wound that he got. we get the turmoil of bleeding kansas. there are elections

they were joined at some extent by the white abolitionists, many of them being quakers because we in lambert had been schooled and educated and lived among the quakers when he left trenton, new jersey, and arrived in detroit. he, for me, is just a phenomenal be individual because he was like one of the main conductors of the underground railroad. i know in my classes in new york city when i talk about the underground railroad, the first thing it brings to their mind is a train, you know, the d train. [laughter] you know, coulson whitehead has done his thing in terms of the metaphorical treatment of the underground railroad. but this was a process, the biway in which, you know, these here fiewblgtive slaves -- fugitive slaves could get away from bondage, get away from the so-called peculiar institution and end up in detroit. so this here, ed dwight's sculpture, it symbolizes the people. and certainly after 1850 when you had the fugitive slave law, when that act was passed that meant that although -- and we got the blackburn case, the blackburn affair of these runaway fugitives who arr

alliance inde facto the run-up to the abolition of slavery between abolitionists britain and the slave appalachian in north america. it is fair to say that written -- slave abolition in north america. it is there to say that britain rule north america. part of the takeaway is if you want to understand jim crow, the system of apartheid that sold weakened.ame to be weeken such as the supreme court decision found that jim crow was unconstitutional, but what happened was the international situation had changed. the methods was under pressure -- the united states was under pressure. states charged moscow with -- this created jim crow. if you want to survive the consequences we know a's, particularly in light of these rather unfortunate elections that took place this past tuesday, we have to pay attention to the internal context within the four corners of the united states of america, but also what is going on in the world and how we can gain leverage in international community in order to pressure u.s. authorities. i should mention one factoid, in surveying the press on wednesday after the

you have, who kind of comes out of the temperance, abolitionist movement. then you have this other woman who comes from a colorful past and together they do send on olympia and the legislature that is made up of all men of ours did they work together in different ways to get the legislature to approve a amendment for the ballot. housejanuary of 1909 the votes for the amendment and 10 or 20 votes. in february the senate votes. on washington state senate, figure 25th, 1909 the governor signs a bill that creates the opportunity for wash in tony is dead for washingtonians to vote. that vote is going to come up before washington men. in november of 1910. so this suffrage amendment passes on november 8 1910. washington becomes the first state in the union to pass suffrage. west were coming at people who were probably risk takers. they were looking to break out of some conventional life that they may have experienced in the east. a lot of suffragettes came out because they saw the opportunity. >> all weekend long american history tv is joining our comcast cable pa

as radical the southern fight eaters those who push for secession before pushed by majority and abolitionists in the north. but i believe that most people were pretty much living their lives as the way that americans have always lived it. they were interested in the economy. they were interested in making sure their children had a better life than they did education -- they were also interested in other political issue such as the tariff and scandals blakeing plaguing administration and a lot going on. >> often at the bottom of all list ranking the president. >> so -- i believe that he is what -- you can -- you can't imagine a more prepared man to be president than james buchanan and in is 56, he had been a politician and abroad he was well known and well respect ready. he brought to the office the hope with his election that he could calm things down. nothing was calmed down. the way he conducted his administration was to alienate everybody, and he certainly did that and he brought the country it a greater intensity of delight for each other instead of pacifying. before south carolina succee

opposite on the courthouse lawn is a statue of frederick douglass, the great abolitionist from talbot county. i think that is exactly what we want to do, create a dialogue, have people going there and saying, douglas and the monuments to the soldiers are in a dialogue. that is perfect, brilliant idea. i think it is counter monuments right behind the jefferson davis monument on monument avenue, that is a counter monument, the word love. i think these kind of counter monuments invite discussion. obviously there needs to be text associated with the monuments, the jefferson davis monuments in -- on monument avenue in richmond, virginia i think literally makes no reference to slavery. it talks about him as the defender of the rights of states. it in races the idea of -- erases the idea of slavery and slavery as part of the civil war. we say, when this was put up, right at the turn of the 20th century, slavery was being erased from the memory of the civil war and now we know more, so that is the kind of contextualization that invites ongoing discussion. not just yes or no, on or off decisio

you have emma, who is kind of comes out of the temperate abolitionist suffrage movement, and you have may, who comes to this from a colorful past. together they do send on olivia -- they descend on olivia and the legislature -- all men, of of courseh and 8 -- -- and they were to get an amendment to the ballot. 1909, the house votes for the amendment, and it passes by i think 10 to 20 votes. then in february, the senate votes, the washington state senate. by a bigger majority, and on february 25, 1909, the governor signed the bill to create the opportunity for washingtonians to vote for suffrage for women in washington state. upthat vote is going to come before washington men in november of 1910. so the suffrage amendment passes on november 8, 1910, and washington because the fifth state in the union to pass suffrage. the people coming west were people who were probably risktakers, where looking to break out of some conventional life that they might have experienced in the east, and a lot of suffragette came out here and worked from the east and worked hard as they saw the opportunity.

he blames the abolitionists, the fanatics, he calls them.natics from the north who have caused this crisis, who have caused this trouble for our beloved union. i would say to you that that as a historian is where buchanan lost me. because think it's being unfairly judgmental about him to see how blind an eye he cast to the viciousness of slavery and how unwilling he was to keep his ear to the ground about what is going on and what people are actually thinking in the north. you could argue and i would argue that buchanan might have made an adequate president in a different, earlier time. but he was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. i'll let john come up for his final comments, and then we'll take your questions. >> michael's remarks about buchanan being the wrong president for the wrong time i think is born out by looking back at the pierce -- i'm sorry, the polk administration where buchanan was the secretary of the state. during buchanan's presidency and also during the pierce administration, buchanan had become identified

and this in fact was a factor abolitionists were beginning to point and would especially point to by the 1830s when slavery is interpreted by white northerners by being especially offensive by the way it breaks up families and promotes sexual abuse of female slaves that were completely dissempowered. those were really just beginning in their infingerprint stamgs in this period. but by the 1930s, absolutely this was a key argument abolitionists were arguing that creates and really adds to, right, the slave population. so of course there's an economic interest also sexually violating their slaves. so yes, it's a very important factor. >> i think you alluded to this. wasn't one of the end debates is we're just not going to consider any petitions on slavery anymore? >> yeah, so this is again -- and i sort of alluded to this in the opening. some historians have argued this is sort of a prelude to the gag rule. so the gag rule only fully emerges later in the 1830s as abolition in the north emerges much more strongly. there's no absolute answer to that. in a lot of ways, yes, it is setting

radical emerged as a abolitionist. break with garrison in the emergence of this aggressive passage of congress' the compromise of 1850, which strengthened the fugitive slave laws already on the books. --ple in the northeast were where slavery didn't exist were legally obliged to return fugitive slaves to their masters. viewdouglass' to nationalized slavery and showed the importance of political resistance. the greatest example of political resistance in american history came from the revolutionary fathers and mothers who chose in 1776 to declare their independence from great britain and to fight for their independence. that takes us to 1852, the year that douglass gave what many regard as the greatest anti-slavery speech to ever be delivered in this country, the fourth of july, an address delivered in rochester, new york on july 5 1852. give thevited to speech by the rochester ladies anti-slavery society and he delivered it at a large hall in rochester. between 500 and 600 people am a white and black, paid $.15 to hear

he was an abolitionist and a sitting member of congress at this time.so suddenly he finds that he's the owner of the most famous slaves in the united states just literally overnight. and he wanted to divest himself of the slaves as quickly as he could before the press found out basically. what he did is he sold the scott family for a token dollar to one of the sons of the original family from the plantation where scott was born back in virginia. and taylor blow brought them into this courtroom and set them free in 1857. so the scotts achieved the freedom that they had fought so long to obtain while still provoking this incredibly important supreme court decision, which led the country on the road to civil war, which of course eventually freed all the slaves. dred, unfortunately, did not live very long after the decision was rendered. he died probably of tuberculosis in 1858, so only a year after the case was decided. his wife lived on until 1876. so she would have seen the civil war and she would have seen freedom come along. for a good share of their l

the other tragedy is what i wanted the story as part of the bug including by some abolitionists see we told you you don't have to worry about all of these coming north and taking jobs. this is because they can handle the cold. they will stay down south. don't worry, we can free slaves without anything inconveniencing our own bigotry, only. so, it was this powerful, painful story that i knew resonated with students to see how even to see out the emancipation has ugliness still wrapped up with it. i wanted to include some of the major battles in the butt, not from an angle they hadn't seen with the battle of gettysburg to talk about a union soldier his body is found in town in gettysburg but he's holding a picture of three young children they finally tracked his family down and she became almost a celebrity and they bring her and the three children to gettysburg and they open an orphanage is the biggest battle of the civil war. so this orphanage is creating this saying she will run. i love to tell you the beautiful story from here and now. she's miserable, she ends up marrying a gentlema

simply being opposed to slavery did not turn him into an abolitionist. it did not turnhim into a william lloyd garrison. in 1837, while he's still sitting in the state legislature, he joins with another whig representative to offer a resolution decrying slavery. as bad practice, bad policy and injustice. but he doesn't do more. when he goes to washington as a member of congress, he backs a bill to abolish the slave trade in the district of columbia. before the compromise of 1850. but the bill goes nowhere and lincoln doesn't press on it. so he's opposed to slavery. he's anti-slavery. he's just not what you might call an activist on the subject. that is until 1854. the reason he's not an activist on the subject is because before 1854, he is convinced that slavery is a dying system which is on its own way out. lincoln believes, first of all, that the founders constructed the united states constitution to be an anti-slavery document. not that the constitution abolished slavery, but that the constitution created a system and represented the intentions of fou

there's few abolitionists in missouri. most are in the german population, which is strong in st. louis. but there are many people who are moderately pro slavery but who don't believe that in this union, that border state unionism is very strong in missouri. there are slave owners who say, if we secede, we're going to lose the benefit of the slave act. we're going to have an international boundary or three slides. it's not a simple thing. the state is very pore llarized because of the intolerance for dissent. i won't go through all the details how the war erupts. there's a convention on cessation. it votes against. the governor is in favor of cessation. he organizes a state guard. there's a clash with general lyon. the state guard retreats to the southwest. lyon attacks them at wilson's creek. he is killed. price leads the state guard to capture lexington. finally, general fremont leads a new force which forces price out of the state. by the end of 1861, you have for the next three years basically an end to conventional warfare in missouri. at this point, traditionally historians

the other tragedy as part of this book gets covered in all the newspapers including some abolitionists we told you you don't have to worry about all these free slaves coming north and taking jobs. they will stay down south so don't worry. we can free slaves without anything inconveniencing our own bigotry, our own beliefs. it was this powerful, painful story and i knew resonated with students, to see how this beautiful story of emancipation had so much ugliness wrapped up with it. i wanted to include the major battles in the book, but coming added from the angle they hadn't seen before like the battle of gettysburg, a union soldier who becomes famous in the aftermath of the battle because his body is found in town, he is leaning against the building along the street in town but holding a picture of three young children. they finally track his family down, track down his wife and she has become almost a celebrity by this point and they bring her and the three children to gettysburg because in gettysburg they open an orphanage to provide for all the families who have been left destitute

we have a nice analogy wean the abolitionists on one side. i was just wondering whether he was actually voicing the opinion of a lot of sort of mainstream americans who work and camp. they just kind of wanted this whole thing to go away and things to be normal. how would you respond to that? >> john is such an expert that i will be very brief and say i think your point is very well taken. there are a lot of northerners who are not only sympathetic but who just want this whole thing to go away. they want to go about their business. i have been reading charles new book, the making of a racist. i recommend it to all of you. in book he spends time talking about the nature of the slave trade and what the profits were in the south. it is absolutely amazing in 1859 and 1860 how shall we say profitable it is. they just want everything. most of these folks just want everything to go away. the people who were in the business, whatever, they want it to go away too. that said, let's not underestimate the wing of the republican party. i take it as a very

the republican party was not created until 1858 as an abolitionist party and that was in response to the democrat president from one of the carolina states, who was a congressman, went into the sentence -- senate office of charles sumner and nearly beat the man to death because he had said something bad about slavery. spiralinging violence upwards again over arguments that are wrong, and my point of view as an american is when i look at things like osama bin laden in my lifetime and i americanse number of , you know which side i am taking. i think those statues should come down. the other thing is because the ku klux klan that keeps coming up all the time and seems to be lining up in politics again, where i'm hearing democrats say is,bad the clan is -- klan and the republicans ought to be changing their way on that because the democratic party established the ku klux klan as a paramilitary organization in the reconstruction years. when we hear about these 2000 lynchings taking place, some 300 of them were whites -- i am quoting from memory, i and old current need help -- these guys l

in talbot , where on thend courthouse lawn there is a statue of frederick douglass, the great abolitionist. that is exactly what i want to do. we need to create a dialogue. toglass and the monuments confederate soldiers are in dialogue. i think that is a brilliant idea. right behindents, the jefferson davis monument is the word love. there needs to be a sort of text associated with the monuments. the jefferson davis monument in richmond, virginia, make no reference to slavery. him as aabout defender of constitutionalism and the rights of states. idea of slavery having anything to do with the civil war. up, righthis was put at the turn of the 20th century, slavery was being erased from the memory of the civil war. now we know more, and that is the kind of contextualization that invites discussion, not just a yes or no discussion to remove a statue. host: (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independents. our guest is al brophy, university of alabama school of law. moore, illinois. you're up first. caller: good morning. i agree with the professor t

they're worried about the abolitionists, that they will be actually stealing saves as they are freeing slaves. and there was the great ideological study over the idea of southern states should pea able to export their slavery system to the west or whether it could be closed off to slavery. so even people who did not want to live around african-americans were fighting for banning slavery. even people who were not slaver owners themselves wanted to spread slavery. it was wrapped up with several different political issues and cultural issues. so what happened is in the state of missouri, the state mobilized to spread slavery into kansas. so i mentioned a few things in 1854 in june there's mass meetings across the northern part of the state. the james family, his father died in the gold rush. and his mother remarried. it was in clay county on the missouri river in a much denser slave owning part of the state. so this is happening in their territory, in their home county. there were men who joined -- a thousand men joined a county association. they're already beginning to form private milit

she persuaded abolitionists, former abolitionists to sign a petition to get her husband free, and jefferson davis -- not one of my favorite husbands -- jefferson davis, who had berated her endlessly for her autonomy, her individualism beforehand now says, "you go girl, this is wonderful, keep at it, keep going." she really -- had she not behaved in an unseemly fashion with incredible determination and political sense -- she knew who to go to -- he would have rotted to death in this prison. >> can i point out something interesting about this conversation? we are 25 minutes into it and we haven't mentioned the word eleanor. >> i was about to say that. >> jump right in. >> to me that's actually a remarkable -- >> i have an eleanor when. >> 25 years ago when i wrote this book on presidential couples, all we talked about was eleanor roos vel. you would talk about the first lady of the moment, then eleanor roosevelt and jackie and lady bird johnson. it's interesting to see i'm old enough to talk about 25 years. i was in a group therapy session. >> i was about to jump in with that because there's

charlotte blow married an editor of an abolitionist newspaper. one of the sons golf clubsbecom congressman, the other daughter marries a u.s. senator. they get together and provide the support for the litigation. another fully validated another connection is that montgomery blair has a brother in missouri that is a unionist. it is possible there's a connection there. you know, benjamin curtis' brother joins the litigation team on behalf of dred scott for the second round of oral arguments to argue the validity of the missouri compromise. >> who was benjamin curtis? >> he was a justice on the court. i'm sorry, george curtis, brother of the justice. >> so he argued before the court. would there be a crisis? >> there would be a conflict. that wouldn't occur. >> was he paid for his services or did they do it pro bono? >> blair is not paid and neither -- neither is curtis, but here by the time we are approaching the u.s. supreme court, these are men who are taking this case because their reputations call for it. it would be -- i think it would be a mi