The Transformation of American Abolitionism
Fighting Slavery in the Early Republic

A history of how abolitionism evolved from an elite and conservative movement to a radical, grassroots reform cause. It traces the development of the abolitionist movement from the 1770s to the 1830s, covering the attitudes and actions which made it the radical cause we think of it as today.

Centered in Massachusetts, these new reformers demanded immediate emancipation, and they revolutionized abolitionist strategies and tactics - lecturing extensively, publishing gripping accounts of life in bondage, and organizing on a grassroots level. Their attitudes and actions made the abolition movement the radical cause we think of it as today.