and cassius clay started to get death threats. he is very determined. he is someone who is very strong willed. he will not back down. although he never emancipated his own slaves. it seems to be the case that his in laws threatened him. his wife's family, apparently, he had a bad relationship with his wife's family. that was true throughout the marriage. it seems to be the case his wife's family threatened him if he decided to free his own slaves. so he didn't. of course, his critics said he was a hypocrite. clay said in his old age it was a mistake. he was embarrassed about it. he didn't free his own slaves even as he is calling for emancipation. nonethele nonetheless, he goes out on the lecture circuit and faced audiences in kentucky which was a slave state, that were quite hostile. clay was a religious man and knew the bible well. he said most of the time his justification and protection was the constitution. he said the constitution gave him the right to say what he thought about slavery. when he would walk into a room to give a lecture to an audien

for example, a man from kentucky named cassius clay. first name cassius. last name clay. this is a name from the ancient world, his father or mother apparently read the history of the ancient world and gave their son this name cassius clay. cassius clay is the son of a slave owner. he grew up outside of lexington. he has a very comfortable upbringing. he is a college graduate, and when he was a young man he inherited his father's estate and 17 slaves. he also married a young woman who was from the slave-owning elite in kentucky. even when he was in his late teens and early 20s he was starting to make comments in writing and sometimes in public that were antislavery. he starts to say things like one day slavery should end. then he starts to say it should end soon. then he says that no truly patriotic person could support slavery. he got active in the antislavery movement. he starts to give anti-slavery speeches in kentucky, also in other places in the ohio river valley. he begins publishing his own anti-slavery newspaper in lexington when he called the "true american", emp

cassius clay published a memoir, elizabeth cady stanton published one. there are lots of citations. you want me to give you some after class? okay. yeah. these are often very verbal people, highly verbal, highly articulate. they have things to say. they leave quite a large paper trail for a small number of people. any other questions, comments? okay. let's talk about the pro slavery response. slave owners are paying attention. they notice when slavery comes under this fierce attack. and they counterattack. the slave owning elite in the united states, they fight back. and all slave owners did that throughout the 19th century. whenever anti-slavery movements get started in other parts of the world, in the british empire, in spain, in other places in central and south america, slave owners respond and they fight back. and they try their best to stop emancipation. they cling to that institution which has benefitted them so much. and in the united states that happens. slave owners notice right away that the abolitionist movement has geared up and these people are mounting a direct rhetor