Indian Wars
92-602: Silas Stillman Soule ( / s oʊ l / SOHL ; July 26, 1838 – April 23, 1865) was an American abolitionist , military officer and 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad . As a Kansas Jayhawker , he supported and was a proponent of John Brown 's movement in the time of strife leading up to the American Civil War . During the war, Soule joined the Colorado volunteers, and rose to
184-491: A lecture against slavery while dressed as a soldier, after which he plunged a sword into a bible containing a bladder of fake blood ( pokeberry juice) that splattered those nearby. On September 9, 1739, a literate slave named Jemmy led a rebellion against South Carolina slaveholders in an event referred to as the Stono Rebellion (also known as Cato's Conspiracy and Cato's Rebellion.) The runaway slaves involved in
276-527: A battle against 80 men. He had returned to his mother's farm (after his father's death in 1856 and before John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859) to harvest her crops with her mother's neighbor James Morrow Campbell. Hazlett was summoned by a messenger and left the farm. According to the Indiana Gazette , Hazlett participated in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry . Summarizing the event,
368-579: A commander of the raid. He was later captured at Carlisle, Pennsylvania , near the Pennsylvania border and was taken to Virginia. Hazlett was imprisoned in Charles Town, Virginia, now Charles Town, West Virginia , where he was visited by his brother from Armstrong County, Pennsylvania for several days until March 15, 1860, the day before his execution. Hazlett and Stevens were executed at on March 16, 1860, at Charles Town. According to
460-548: A concern for Black civil rights. However, James Stewart advocates a more nuanced understanding of the relationship of abolition and anti-slavery prior to the Civil War: While instructive, the distinction [between anti-slavery and abolition] can also be misleading, especially in assessing abolitionism's political impact. For one thing, slaveholders never bothered with such fine points. Many immediate abolitionists showed no less concern than did other white Northerners about
552-492: A corner in what is now downtown Denver, and faced Charles Squier. Soule fired the first shot and wounded Squier's left arm, but Squier fired a bullet that entered Soule's right cheek, mortally wounding him. Soule was dead before help could arrive. Squier dropped his pistol and ran before he could be arrested by the authorities. Soule's assassination occurred two weeks after the end of the Civil War. One of Soule's assassins fled
644-625: A crime, in 1865. This was a direct result of the Union victory in the American Civil War . The central issue of the war was slavery. Historian James M. McPherson in 1964 defined an abolitionist "as one who before the Civil War had agitated for the immediate, unconditional and total abolition of slavery in the United States". He notes that many historians have used a broader definition without his emphasis on immediacy. Thus he does not include opponents of slavery such as Abraham Lincoln or
736-643: A different section at Riverside Cemetery. From 1998 to 2018 a Spiritual Healing Run/Walk was held in November to honor those killed at Sand Creek. It began at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado and concluded on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol. Starting in 2010, a memorial ceremony was also held at Soule's grave site and at a Denver high-rise building where
828-594: A family of abolitionists in Bath, Maine , descended from Mayflower passenger George Soule . He was raised in Maine and Massachusetts . Soule was a "...friendly, intelligent, and good-natured young man, full of practical jokes, [and] tall tales... In 1854, his family became part of the newly formed New England Emigrant Aid Company , an organization whose goal was to help settle the Kansas Territory and bring it into
920-417: A fellow much in that respect and you know I never was much of a Christian, and am naturally wild, but I have seen so much of the world and are not much changed. I think there is not much danger of my spoiling—our Col. Is a Methodist Preacher and whenever he sees me drinking, gambling, stealing, or murdering he says, he will write to Mother or my sister Annie, so I have to go straight." July 1864 –Silas Soule
1012-534: A jailbreak. Brown had been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging , when, in November 1859, Soule visited him and offered to help him escape. Brown told Soule, however, that he had already decided to become a martyr for the abolitionist cause and would willingly allow himself to be hanged, hoping his death would help bring on a war between North and South. This frustrated Soule's planned rescue attempt. Nonetheless, pastor and Secret Six member, Thomas Wentworth Higginson , an associate of Soule's, put together
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#17327806965121104-460: A lieutenant in John Brown’s provisional army and participated in the raid on Harper’s Ferry Arsenal in 1859. He was captured, tried, convicted, and hanged for his involvement following the failed Harper's Ferry attack. This incident, intended to arm slaves to fight for their own freedom, was a major catalyst for the outbreak of the Civil War. Hazlett was born and raised near here. It was selected by
1196-708: A memorial plaque honoring Soule was installed near the location of his murder. Soule's name has been proposed as a replacement name for several locations in Colorado. Soule was among the proposed names when Mount Evans was renamed Mount Blue Sky . A creek in Chaffee County (whose name previously included an offensive slur) was renamed Silas Soule Creek. In 2022, it was recommended as a new name for Colorado's Pingree Park, Pingree Road and Pingree Hill after Colorado State University renamed its nearby campus Colorado State University Mountain Campus . Abolitionism in
1288-525: A physician in Lawrence, who was escorting 13 former slaves to Iowa . The men from Missouri arrested Dr. Doy and sold the former slaves. Doy, meanwhile, was tried and convicted of abducting slaves and sentenced to five years in a Missouri penitentiary. Because he was awaiting transfer to the prison at the jailhouse in St. Joseph , Soule and a group of men from Lawrence decided they would free him. Soule went into
1380-493: A political movement is usually dated from 1 January 1831, when Wm. Lloyd Garrison (as he always signed himself) published the first issue of his new weekly newspaper, The Liberator (1831), which appeared without interruption until slavery in the United States was abolished in 1865, when it closed. Abolitionists included those who joined the American Anti-Slavery Society or its auxiliary groups in
1472-405: A principle was far more than just the wish to prevent the expansion of slavery. After 1840, abolitionists rejected this because it let sin continue to exist; they demanded that slavery end everywhere, immediately and completely. John Brown was the only abolitionist to have actually planned a violent insurrection, though David Walker promoted the idea. The abolitionist movement was strengthened by
1564-493: A prominent Bostonian, wrote The Selling of Joseph (1700) in protest of the widening practice of outright slavery as opposed to indentured servitude in the colonies. This is the earliest-recorded anti-slavery tract published in the future United States. Slavery was banned in the colony of Georgia soon after its founding in 1733. The colony's founder, James Edward Oglethorpe , fended off repeated attempts by South Carolina merchants and land speculators to introduce slavery into
1656-521: A rescue attempt of two men who had also been incarcerated along with Brown, Albert Hazlett and Aaron Dwight Stevens . As part of this plan, Soule posed as a drunken Irishman, got himself arrested for brawling, and was put into the Charles Town jail for the night. He managed to convince the jailer into letting him out of his cell for a short while during which he contacted Brown and the two men. Brown, Hazlett, and Stevens all refused to be sprung from
1748-730: A sense of protection from their government. Led by Nathaniel Bacon , the unification that occurred between the white lower class and blacks during this rebellion was perceived as dangerous and thus was quashed with the implementation of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 . Still, this event introduced the premise that blacks and whites could work together towards the goal of self-liberation, which became increasingly prevalent as abolition gained traction within America. The first statement against slavery in Colonial America
1840-448: A slave. According to historian Steven Pincus , many of the colonial legislatures worked to enact laws that would limit slavery. The Provincial legislature of Massachusetts Bay , as noted by historian Gary B. Nash , approved a law "prohibiting the importation and purchase of slaves by any Massachusetts citizen." The Loyalist governor of Massachusetts , Thomas Hutchinson , vetoed the law, an action that prompted angered reaction from
1932-541: The Evening Star , the men were sent to "that bourne from which no traveler returneth". After their death, Hazlett's and Steven's bodies were taken to Harpers Ferry, Virginia where they were met by Hazlett's brother and Steven's sister and fiancé. Hazlett's intended bride, Miss Stephenson accompanied the corpse to Eaglewood Cemetery in Perth Amboy, New Jersey . Miss Stephenson later married Jonas Hazlett. At
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#17327806965122024-643: The Age of Enlightenment , focused on ending the transatlantic slave trade . In Colonial America, a few German Quakers issued the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery , which marked the beginning of the American abolitionist movement. Before the Revolutionary War , evangelical colonists were the primary advocates for the opposition to slavery and the slave trade, doing so on the basis of humanitarian ethics. Still, others such as James Oglethorpe ,
2116-609: The American Revolutionary War and was reorganized in 1784, with Benjamin Franklin as its first president. In 1777, independent Vermont , not yet a state, became the first polity in North America to prohibit slavery: slaves were not directly freed, but masters were required to remove slaves from Vermont. The Constitution included several provisions which accommodated slavery, although none used
2208-642: The Massachusetts courts in freedom suits , spurred on the decision made in the Somerset v. Stewart case, which although not applying the colonies was still received positively by American abolitionists. Boston lawyer Benjamin Kent represented them. In 1766, Kent won a case ( Slew v. Whipple ) to liberate Jenny Slew , a mixed-race woman who had been kidnapped in Massachusetts and then handled as
2300-598: The Republican Party ; they called for the immediate end to expansion of slavery before 1861. The religious component of American abolitionism was great. It began with the Quakers , then moved to the other Protestants with the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Many leaders were ministers. Saying slavery was sinful made its evil easy to understand, and tended to arouse fervor for
2392-543: The Underground Railroad . This was made illegal by the federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 , arguably the most hated and most openly evaded federal legislation in the nation's history. Nevertheless, participants like Harriet Tubman , Henry Highland Garnet , Alexander Crummell , Amos Noë Freeman , and others continued with their work. Abolitionists were particularly active in Ohio , where some worked directly in
2484-425: The Union as a free state . His father and brother arrived in the vicinity of modern day Lawrence in November 1854, and became one of the town's founding families. The teenage Silas, his mother, and two sisters came the following summer. Shortly after the family's arrival at Coal Creek located a few miles south of Lawrence, Silas's father, Amasa, established his household as a stop on the Underground Railroad . At
2576-595: The United States Constitution did or did not protect slavery. This issue arose in the late 1840s after the publication of The Unconstitutionality of Slavery by Lysander Spooner . The Garrisonians, led by Garrison and Wendell Phillips , publicly burned copies of the Constitution, called it a pact with slavery, and demanded its abolition and replacement. Another camp, led by Lysander Spooner , Gerrit Smith , and eventually Douglass, considered
2668-551: The international slave trade , but South Carolina reversed its decision. Between the Revolutionary War and 1804, laws, constitutions, or court decisions in each of the Northern states provided for the gradual or immediate abolition of slavery. No Southern state adopted similar policies. In 1807, Congress made the importation of slaves a crime, effective January 1, 1808, which was as soon as Article I, section 9 of
2760-521: The upper South , freed slaves, sometimes in their wills. Many noted they had been moved by the revolutionary ideals of the equality of men. The number of free blacks as a proportion of the black population in the upper South increased from less than 1 percent to nearly 10 percent between 1790 and 1810 as a result of these actions. Some slave owners, concerned about the increase in free blacks, which they viewed as destabilizing, freed slaves on condition that they emigrate to Africa . All U.S. states abolished
2852-793: The 1830s and 1840s, as the movement fragmented. The fragmented anti-slavery movement included groups such as the Liberty Party ; the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society ; the American Missionary Association ; and the Church Anti-Slavery Society . Historians traditionally distinguish between moderate anti-slavery reformers or gradualists, who concentrated on stopping the spread of slavery, and radical abolitionists or immediatists, whose demands for unconditional emancipation often merged with
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2944-755: The Bridge Street African Methodist Episcopal Church , and lived on Duffield Street. His fellow Duffield Street residents Thomas and Harriet Truesdell were leading members of the abolitionist movement. Mr. Truesdell was a founding member of the Providence Anti-slavery Society before moving to Brooklyn in 1838. Harriet Truesdell was also very active in the movement, organizing an anti-slavery convention in Pennsylvania Hall (Philadelphia) . Another prominent Brooklyn-based abolitionist
3036-809: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1780). The Quaker Quarterly Meeting of Chester, Pennsylvania , made its first protest in 1711. Within a few decades the entire slave trade was under attack, being opposed by such Quaker leaders as William Burling, Benjamin Lay , Ralph Sandiford, William Southby, John Woolman , and Anthony Benezet . Benezet was particularly influential, inspiring a later generation of notable anti-slavery activists, including Granville Sharp , John Wesley , Thomas Clarkson , Olaudah Equiano , Benjamin Franklin , Benjamin Rush , Absalom Jones , and Bishop Richard Allen , among others. Samuel Sewall ,
3128-431: The Constitution allowed. A small but dedicated group, under leaders such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass , agitated for abolition in the mid-19th century. John Brown became an advocate and militia leader in attempting to end slavery by force of arms. In the Civil War, immediate emancipation became a war goal for the Union in 1861 and was fully achieved in 1865. American abolitionism began well before
3220-416: The Constitution to be an anti-slavery document. Using an argument based upon Natural Law and a form of social contract theory, they said that slavery fell outside the Constitution's scope of legitimate authority and therefore should be abolished. Another split in the abolitionist movement was along class lines. The artisan republicanism of Robert Dale Owen and Frances Wright stood in stark contrast to
3312-770: The North. In 1835 alone, abolitionists mailed over a million pieces of anti-slavery literature to the South, giving rise to the gag rules in Congress, after the theft of mail from the Charleston, South Carolina , post office, and much back-and-forth about whether postmasters were required to deliver this mail. According to the Postmaster General , they were not. Under the Constitution, the importation of enslaved persons could not be prohibited until 1808 (20 years). As
3404-588: The Sand Creek Massacre led to Chivington's resignation; Colorado's Second Territorial Governor, John Evans’, dismissal; and the U.S. Congress refusing the U.S. Army's repeated requests for a general war against the Plains Indians . In a tongue-in-cheek letter to his sister Annie, Soule wrote: "You and Mother write for me to be a Christian and not to be too wild, etc., but the Army don't improve
3496-446: The South, members of the abolitionist movement or other people opposing slavery were often targets of lynch mob violence before the American Civil War . Numerous known abolitionists lived, worked, and worshipped in downtown Brooklyn , from Henry Ward Beecher , who auctioned slaves into freedom from the pulpit of Plymouth Church, to Nathaniel Eggleston, a leader of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society , who also preached at
3588-514: The Third Colorado Cavalry to attack Southern Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle 's encampment of Southern Cheyenne. Before the attack, Soule told other officers “any man who would take part in [such] murders, knowing the circumstances as we did, was a low lived cowardly son of a bitch.” Several lieutenants also objected to Chivington's plans. Lt. Joseph Cramer and Soule went directly to Major Scott Anthony , Chivington's superior. As
3680-641: The Underground Railroad. Since only the Ohio River separated free Ohio from slave Kentucky, it was a popular destination for fugitive slaves. Supporters helped them there, in many cases to cross Lake Erie by boat, into Canada. The Western Reserve area of northeast Ohio was "probably the most intensely antislavery section of the country." The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue got national publicity. Abolitionist John Brown grew up in Hudson, Ohio . In
3772-641: The United States In the United States, abolitionism , the movement that sought to end slavery in the country , was active from the colonial era until the American Civil War , the end of which brought about the abolition of American slavery, except as punishment for a crime , through the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified 1865). The anti-slavery movement originated during
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3864-515: The United States was founded as a nation. In 1652, Rhode Island made it illegal for any person, black or white, to be "bound" longer than ten years. The law, however, was widely ignored, and Rhode Island became involved in the slave trade in 1700. The first act of resistance against an upper-class white colonial government from slaves can be seen in Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. Occurring in Virginia,
3956-597: The activities of free African Americans, especially in the Black church , who argued that the old Biblical justifications for slavery contradicted the New Testament . African-American activists and their writings were rarely heard outside the Black community. However, they were tremendously influential on a few sympathetic white people, most prominently the first white activist to reach prominence, Wm. Lloyd Garrison , who
4048-564: The age of 17, Silas escorted escaped slaves from Missouri north to freedom. During the late 1850s, pro-slavery forces from Missouri and abolitionist forces from Kansas were engaged in open warfare. The conflict was over whether Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a slave or free state. This period was often called " Bleeding Kansas ". In July 1859, twenty pro-slavery men had crossed into Kansas to look for escaped slaves. They located and ambushed an Underground Railroad party led by Dr. John Doy,
4140-399: The attack began, Soule reminded his troops that the supposed "enemy" was a peace chief's band, and some responded that they "would not fire a shot today". His company did not follow the orders given to them to enter the creek bed leading to the settlement but moved up and down the banks and observed the slaughter. There was heavy crossfire , and they did not participate in the killings. After
4232-533: The attack, in Chivington's telegram reporting his "victory" he condemned Soule for "saying that he thanked God he killed no Indians, and like expressions, proving himself more in sympathy with the Indians that the whites." The U.S. Congress created a congressional committee to investigate the Sand Creek Massacre due to a nationwide outrage of the incident. Soule's and others' verbal and written testimonies about
4324-428: The case of Commonwealth v. Nathaniel Jennison , reaffirmed the case of Brom and Bett v. Ashley , which held that even slaves were people who had a constitutional right to liberty. This gave freedom to slaves, effectively abolishing slavery. States with a greater economic interest in slaves, such as New York and New Jersey, passed gradual emancipation laws. While some of these laws were gradual, these states enacted
4416-461: The cause. The debate about slavery was often based on what the Bible said or did not say about it. John Brown , who had studied the Bible for the ministry, proclaimed that he was "an instrument of God". As such, abolitionism in the United States was identified by historians as an expression of moralism , it often operated in tandem with another social reform effort, the temperance movement . Slavery
4508-472: The colony. His motivations included tactical defense against Spanish collusion with runaway slaves, and prevention of Georgia's largely reformed criminal population from replicating South Carolina's planter class structure. In 1739, he wrote to the Georgia Trustees urging them to hold firm: If we allow slaves we act against the very principles by which we associated together, which was to relieve
4600-543: The crime. Absalom Hazlett, commonly known as Albert Hazlett, was born about 1838 in Indiana County, Pennsylvania . His parents were Sarah (née Miller) Hazlett, of Bedford Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania and Alexander Hazlett, whose father William Hazlett lived in Bedford County, Pennsylvania before moving in 1825 to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania . Alexander became a stonemason and relocated with
4692-470: The disposal of the blacks, and that this foul and unnatural crime of holding men in bondage will finally be rooted out from our land." In the 1830s there was a progressive shift in thinking in the North. Mainstream opinion changed from gradual emancipation and resettlement of freed blacks in Africa, sometimes a condition of their manumission , to immediatism: freeing all the slaves immediately and sorting out
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#17327806965124784-658: The distresses. Whereas, now we should occasion the misery of thousands in Africa, by setting men upon using arts to buy and bring into perpetual slavery the poor people who now live there free. In 1737, Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay published All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage: Apostates , which was printed by his friend, Benjamin Franklin. The following year, during the 1738 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in Burlington, New Jersey , Lay gave
4876-612: The end of the 20 years approached, an Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves sailed through Congress with little opposition. President Jefferson signed it, and it went effect on January 1, 1808. In 1820, the Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States and Punish the Crime of Piracy was passed. This law made importing slaves into the United States a death penalty offense . The Confederate States of America continued this prohibition with
4968-755: The fate of the nation's "precious legacies of freedom". Immediatism became most difficult to distinguish from broader anti-Southern opinions once ordinary citizens began articulating these intertwining beliefs. Nearly all Northern politicians, such as Abraham Lincoln , rejected the "immediate emancipation" called for by the abolitionists, seeing it as "extreme". Indeed, many Northern leaders, including Lincoln, Stephen Douglas (the Democratic nominee in 1860), John C. Frémont (the Republican nominee in 1856), and Ulysses S. Grant married into slave-owning Southern families without any moral qualms. Anti-slavery as
5060-452: The first abolition laws in the entire " New World ". In the State of New York, the enslaved population was transformed into indentured servants before being granted full emancipation in 1827. In other states, abolitionist legislation provided freedom only for the children of the enslaved. In New Jersey, slavery was not fully prohibited until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment . All of
5152-457: The formulation of abolitionist ideology in the United States. The federal government prohibited the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia in 1850, outlawed slavery in the District of Columbia in 1862, and, with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , made slavery unconstitutional altogether, except as punishment for
5244-579: The founder of the colony of Georgia , also retained political motivations for the removal of slavery. Prohibiting slavery through the 1735 Georgia Experiment in part to prevent Spanish partnership with Georgia's runaway slaves, Oglethorpe eventually revoked the act in 1750 after the Spanish's defeat in the Battle of Bloody Marsh eight years prior. During the Revolutionary era, all states abolished
5336-403: The general public. American abolitionists were cheered by the decision in Somerset v Stewart (1772), which prohibited slavery in the United Kingdom, though not in its colonies. In 1774, the influential Fairfax Resolves called for an end to the "wicked, cruel and unnatural" Atlantic slave trade . One of the first articles advocating the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery
5428-421: The growing American debate over slavery and marked an increase in violence against abolitionists in the United States. Albert Hazlett Albert Hazlett (c. 1836 – March 16, 1860; né Absalom Hazlett ) was an American abolitionist, and participant in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (October 16 to 18, 1859). He was executed on March 15, 1860, in Charles Town , Virginia, (now in West Virginia) for
5520-450: The jail and convinced the jailkeeper that he had a letter from Doy's wife. The note in fact read: "Tonight, at twelve o'clock." Later that night they overpowered the jailer and helped Doy escape back to Kansas. Thereafter known as " The Immortal Ten ", when they reached Lawrence they had their photo taken (above left). Later that year, after John Brown was captured following the raid on Harper's Ferry , Soule once again found himself planning
5612-413: The jail, choosing instead to become martyrs for the cause. After his release from the Charles Town jail, Soule traveled to Boston , where he often met with various abolitionists and befriended the poet Walt Whitman . In May 1860, Soule—along with his brother William, and his cousin, Sam Glass—went to the gold fields in Colorado where he dug for gold and worked in a blacksmith shop. In 1861, after
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#17327806965125704-539: The jobs he accepted. The family was poor and many of the children had ongoing lung illnesses. Hazlett, his wife, and 6 children lived in Center Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania in 1840. Hazlett and his family lived near the head of the dam of the Old Upper Twolick flouring mill in 1845. In 1850, Absalom (12) lived on a farm in Green Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania with his parents, an older brother Washington (16), and younger siblings Peter (10), Jeremiah (9), Henry (7), Mary (3) and Sarah (1). The family
5796-454: The law. His legs were crushed in a railroad accident, and he later died from gangrene in 1869. Despite his crime, he was buried in New York with honors. Soule's funeral on April 26, 1865, was attended by a large crowd, with military and civil dignitaries. A journalist described the funeral as "the finest ever seen in this country." In 1867, Soule was posthumously brevetted to the rank of major, in recognition of his meritorious service. Soule
5888-543: The marriage lasted just twenty-two days before he was murdered. Following his death, his widow remarried. She and her second husband, Alfred Lea, became the parents of the adventurer, author, and geopolitical strategist Homer Lea . On April 23, 1865, two months after testifying before a U.S. military commission investigating the Sand Creek Massacre, Soule was on duty as provost marshal of the Colorado Territory in Denver, when he went to investigate guns being fired. At around 10:30 p.m., with his pistol out, Soule went around
5980-509: The newspaper said, Fights over the very concept of slavery itself — the ownership of people and forced servitude — began well before the start of the war in 1861, and arguably the most notorious was the October 1859 attack led by John Brown on the federal arsenal and rifle factory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His quest was to disarm the state's military, to arm slaves and lead the way to freedom for about 3.9 million slaves. At Harpers Ferry, Virginia , Hazlett fought next to Aaron Dwight Stevens ,
6072-408: The organization of Wesleyan Methodist Connection by Orange Scott in 1843, and the formation of the Free Methodist Church by Benjamin Titus Roberts in 1860 (which is reflected in the name of Church). The True Wesleyan a periodical founded by Orange Scott and Jotham Horton was used to disseminate abolitionist views. The Methodist and Quaker branches of Christianity played an integral part in
6164-430: The other states north of Maryland began gradual abolition of slavery between 1781 and 1804, based on the Pennsylvania model and by 1804, all the Northern states had passed laws to gradually or immediately abolish it. Some slaves continued in involuntary, unpaid "indentured servitude" for two more decades, and others were moved south and sold to new owners in slave states . Some individual slaveholders, particularly in
6256-427: The perspective of the slave, recognizing their agency and subsequent humanity as cause for self-liberation. Slave revolts following the Stono Rebellion were a present mode of abolition undertaken by slaves and were an indicator of black agency that brewed beneath the surface of the abolitionist movement for decades and eventually sprouted later on through figures such as Frederick Douglass, an escaped black freeman who
6348-451: The politics of prominent elite abolitionists such as industrialist Arthur Tappan and his evangelist brother Lewis . While the former pair opposed slavery on a basis of solidarity of "wage slaves" with "chattel slaves", the Whiggish Tappans strongly rejected this view, opposing the characterization of Northern workers as "slaves" in any sense. (Lott, 129–130) Many American abolitionists took an active role in opposing slavery by supporting
6440-469: The problems later. This change was in many cases sudden, a consequence of the individual's coming in direct contact with the horrors of American slavery, or hearing of them from a credible source. As it was put by Amos Adams Lawrence , who witnessed the capture and return to slavery of Anthony Burns , "we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists." The American beginning of abolitionism as
6532-412: The rank of captain in the Union Army . Soule was in command of 1st Colorado Cavalry, Company D that was present at Sand Creek and the massacre of Native Americans that occurred there on November 29, 1864. He testified at a U.S. military hearing that convened in February 1865 to investigate the event. Soule was murdered two months later in what some believed was retaliation. Silas Soule was born into
6624-534: The rebellion saw European indentured servants and African people (of indentured, enslaved , and free negroes ) band together against William Berkeley because of his refusal to fully remove Native American tribes in the region. At the time, Native Americans in the region were hosting raids against lower-class settlers encroaching on their land after the Third Powhatan War (1644–1646), which left many white and black indentured servants and slaves without
6716-567: The revolt intended to reach Spanish-controlled Florida to attain freedom, but their plans were thwarted by white colonists in Charlestown, South Carolina. The event resulted in 25 colonists and 35 to 50 African slaves killed, as well as the implementation of the 1740 Negro Act to prevent another slave uprising. In her book, "The Slave's Cause" by Manisha Sinha, Sinha considers the Stono Rebellion to be an important act of abolition from
6808-400: The scene, but Squier was eventually caught and brought back to Denver for a court-martial. However, the officer who captured Squier was found dead in a Denver hotel with what was presumed to be a staged drug overdose, and Squier escaped to New York, where his father lived. Once there he held various jobs, and tried to rejoin the Army, but was rejected. Squier then fled to Central America to avoid
6900-500: The sentence of death and prohibited the import of slaves. In 1830, most Americans were, at least in principle, opposed to slavery. However, opponents of slavery deliberated on how to end the institution, as well as what would become of the slaves once they were free. As put in The Philanthropist : "If the chain of slavery can be broken, ... we may cherish the hope ... that proper means will be devised for
6992-605: The slaves of masters who failed to register them with the state, along with the "future children" of enslaved mothers. Those enslaved in Pennsylvania before the 1780 law went into effect were not freed until 1847. Massachusetts took a much more radical position. In 1780, during the Revolution, Massachusetts ratified its constitution and included within it a clause that declared all men equal. Based upon this clause, several freedom suits were filed by enslaved African Americans living in Massachusetts. In 1783, its Supreme Court, in
7084-585: The start of the Civil War , Soule enlisted in Company K; 1st Colorado Infantry , and took part in the New Mexico campaign of 1862, including the key Battle of Glorieta Pass . In November 1864, he was assigned the command of Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment . On November 29, 1864, at Sand Creek , in what was then the southeastern corner of territorial Colorado , Colonel John Chivington ordered
7176-525: The territory in 1857. He met John Brown , the abolitionist, in the territory and joined Brown's party. Hazlett served under James Montgomery (a Jayhawker during the Bleeding Kansas era), where Hazlett was a "brave and efficient" soldier. Hazlett served as an officer under John Henry Kagi in the winter of 1857–1858. With nine men, he fought with the Free State forces of Kansas and won
7268-535: The time of their execution, all but four of the participants in the raid had been captured and received justice. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission erected a marker in remembrance of Hazlett in 2002. The marker is located on South 6th Street, Pennsylvania Route 954, at 40°34′40″N 79°7′59″W / 40.57778°N 79.13306°W / 40.57778; -79.13306 in Indiana, Pennsylvania . It states: A staunch abolitionist, Hazlett became
7360-462: The transatlantic slave trade by 1798. South Carolina , which had abolished the slave trade in 1787, reversed that decision in 1803. In the American South , freedom suits were rejected by the courts, which held that the rights in the state constitutions did not apply to African Americans . The formation of Christian denominations that heralded abolitionism as a moral issue occurred, such as
7452-703: The word. Passed unanimously by the Congress of the Confederation in 1787, the Northwest Ordinance forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory , a vast area (the future Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin) in which slavery had been legal, but population was sparse. The first state to begin a gradual abolition of slavery was Pennsylvania, in 1780. All importation of slaves was prohibited, but none were freed at first, only
7544-435: Was "...a great favorite with the men of his own military company..." and could express a "...devilish sense of humor..." being able to "...slither under the thickest skin of pro-slavery or Union supporter alike, with his sharp tongue, cynical nature and charming wit ... [being] wise beyond his years and able to separate the wheat from the chaff on matters of politics..." On April 1, 1865, Soule married Thersa A. "Hersa" Coberly;
7636-461: Was Rev. Joshua Leavitt , trained as a lawyer at Yale, who stopped practicing law in order to attend Yale Divinity School , and subsequently edited the abolitionist newspaper The Emancipator and campaigned against slavery, as well as advocating other social reforms. In 1841, Leavitt published The Financial Power of Slavery , which argued that the South was draining the national economy due to its reliance on enslaved workers. In 2007, Duffield Street
7728-638: Was a popular orator and essayist for the abolitionist cause. The struggle between Georgia and South Carolina led to the first debates in Parliament over the issue of slavery, occurring between 1740 and 1742. Rhode Island Quakers, associated with Moses Brown , were among the first in America to free slaves. Benjamin Rush was another leader, as were many Quakers. John Woolman gave up most of his business in 1756 to devote himself to campaigning against slavery along with other Quakers. Between 1764 and 1774, seventeen enslaved African Americans appeared before
7820-402: Was also attacked, to a lesser degree, as harmful on economic grounds. Evidence was that the South, with many enslaved African Americans on plantations , was definitely poorer than the North, which had few. The institution remained solid in the South, and that region's customs and social beliefs evolved into a strident defense of slavery in response to the rise of a growing anti-slavery stance in
7912-711: Was also said in an article about Alexander and Sarah Hazlett's children to include John, William, and Jonas — listed before the younger children, except Washington, from the 1850 census. About 1850, Alexander inherited 50 acres of farm land from his sister Mary McKane. The farm was located one-half mile southeast of the Twolick Bridge off of the Ebensburg Pike. His father, Alexander, died in May 1856. Hazlett settled in Bourbon County, Kansas after moving to
8004-579: Was buried at Denver City Cemetery (now the location of Cheesman Park ). A large memorial stone was erected above his grave. The cemetery closed and burials were transferred in the early 1890s to Riverside Cemetery in Denver . His large memorial stone was not moved with his remains, and he now has a soldier's gravestone in the Grand Army of the Republic section of Riverside Cemetery. His widow is buried in
8096-637: Was given the name Abolitionist Place , and the Truesdells' home at 227 Duffield received landmark status in 2021. Abolitionists nationwide were outraged by the murder of white abolitionist and journalist Elijah Parish Lovejoy by a proslavery mob in Alton, Illinois on 7 November 1837. Six months later, Pennsylvania Hall , an abolitionist venue in Philadelphia , was burnt to the ground by another proslavery mob on May 17, 1838. Both events contributed to
8188-410: Was its most effective propagandist. Garrison's efforts to recruit eloquent spokesmen led to the discovery of ex-slave Frederick Douglass , who eventually became a prominent activist in his own right. Eventually, Douglass would publish his own widely distributed abolitionist newspaper, North Star . In the early 1850s, the American abolitionist movement split into two camps over the question of whether
8280-537: Was to stop slavery within the Quaker community, where 70% of Quakers owned slaves between 1681 and 1705. It acknowledged the universal rights of all people. While the Quaker establishment did not take action at that time, the unusually early, clear, and forceful argument in the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery initiated the spirit that finally led to the end of slavery in the Society of Friends (1776) and in
8372-717: Was written by Thomas Paine . Titled "African Slavery in America", it appeared on 8 March 1775 in the Postscript to the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser . The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (Pennsylvania Abolition Society) was the first American abolition society, formed 14 April 1775, in Philadelphia, primarily by Quakers. The society suspended operations during
8464-469: Was written in 1688 by the Religious Society of Friends . On 18 February 1688, Francis Daniel Pastorius , the brothers Derick and Abraham op den Graeff and Gerrit Hendricksz of Germantown, Pennsylvania , drafted the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery , a two-page condemnation of slavery, and sent it to the governing bodies of their Quaker church. The intention of the document
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