John McKivigan – författare

The emergence of a sophisticated antislavery ideology and the rise of organized opposition to slavery in the Atlantic World in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries represented nothing less than one of the great intellectual and social revolutions in the history of the world. An institution which by the early eighteenth century was near axiomatically accepted as necessary, useful, and thoroughly in accord with Judaeo-Christian tenets and virtues and which profoundly informed the lives of millions of people had by the mid-nineteenth century come increasingly to be viewed as the chief vector of evil and the Devil in the world, the very quintessence of evil as some called it, and the chief repository of all that was socially, politically, and especially economically archaic and stagnant. This encyclopedia is organized around three principal concerns: the illustration and explication of the various forms of antislavery and its emergence as an organized movement; the immediate precipitants of abolition and the processes of its passage; and the enactment of emancipation and its consequences. While the earliest expressions of antislavery may have only comprised one or a few isolated voices, the antislavery most commonly reviewed here is that animated by a systematic and ardent opposition to slavery and intended to mobilize large numbers of people to attack and end the institution. A wide variety of people and organizations nurtured and extended this antislavery: religious figures, political economists, slaves, sailors, artisans, missionaries, planters, captains of slave ships, democratic enthusiasts, and others were all involved along with the various organizations-secular, religious, or otherwise-with which they were associated. Antislavery was by no means exclusively or even principally the work of an intellectual elite and the force of all, from the lowly and unlearned to the privileged and prominent, is represented. The presence of slavery continued to be attacked in the contracting Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century, in Liberia in the 1930s, in Saudi Arabia in the mid-twentieth century, and even in the latter years of the century in countries like Sudan, Pakistan, India, and others in Southeast Asia.The entries have a worldwide focus, covering antislavery movements and important developments in slavery abolition and slave emancipation in many places around the globe. Other entries cover individuals, groups, events, documents, and organizations related to the history of abolition and emancipation over the last two centuries. Coverage also address a wide range of topics, issues, and ideas related to the broad topic of ending historical systems of slavery and human bondage.Besides over 400 cross-referenced entries, most of which conclude with lists of additional readings, the encyclopedia also includes an Introduction tracing the history of abolition and emancipation, a selected general bibliography, a guide to related topics, numerous illustrations, and a detailed subject index.

Focusing primarily on 19th-century social reform, political issues, or intellectual issues, the essays in this collection all consider the historical moment in the lives of representative 19th-century, and one family of 19th- and 20th-century, Americans. Each of these Americans experienced a moment of decision that converted them to action and altered their lives and identities thereafter. All the essays examine the moments of decision within regional and social contexts. In three separate sections, the volume looks at the role of identity within the southern regional context, antislavery and moral reform within the antebellum northern regional context, and the response to emancipation.

The clearly and concisely written entries in this reference work chronicle the campaign to end human slavery in the United States, bringing to life the key events, leading figures, and socioeconomic forces in the history of American antislavery, abolition, and emancipation.The struggle to abolish human slavery is one of the most important reform campaigns in history. The eventual success of this decades-long struggle serves as an inspiring example that even the most deeply rooted social wrongs can be corrected. This valuable reference work details the history of antislavery, abolition, and emancipation to illustrate the various forms of these forces and the courses they followed in the bitterly contested struggle against the institution of slavery, affording readers the most current compendium of the diverse scholarship of this important historical topic.Geared toward readers seeking to learn about antislavery and abolition in U.S. or African American history, Abolition and Antislavery: A Historical Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic addresses a period of particular significance: the years that shaped the sectional debates leading up to the Civil War. The coverage encompasses both white abolitionists such as Theodore Dwight Weld and William Lloyd Garrison and black abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Delaney, and Sojourner Truth. Each alphabetically organized entry contains cross-references as "See Also" at the end of each entry text. An introductory essay ensures that all readers have a clear framework for understanding the subject, regardless of their previous background knowledge.

The clearly and concisely written entries in this reference work chronicle the campaign to end human slavery in the United States, bringing to life the key events, leading figures, and socioeconomic forces in the history of American antislavery, abolition, and emancipation.The struggle to abolish human slavery is one of the most important reform campaigns in history. The eventual success of this decades-long struggle serves as an inspiring example that even the most deeply rooted social wrongs can be corrected. This valuable reference work details the history of antislavery, abolition, and emancipation to illustrate the various forms of these forces and the courses they followed in the bitterly contested struggle against the institution of slavery, affording readers the most current compendium of the diverse scholarship of this important historical topic.Geared toward readers seeking to learn about antislavery and abolition in U.S. or African American history, Abolition and Antislavery: A Historical Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic addresses a period of particular significance: the years that shaped the sectional debates leading up to the Civil War. The coverage encompasses both white abolitionists such as Theodore Dwight Weld and William Lloyd Garrison and black abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Delaney, and Sojourner Truth. Each alphabetically organized entry contains cross-references as "See Also" at the end of each entry text. An introductory essay ensures that all readers have a clear framework for understanding the subject, regardless of their previous background knowledge.