Category Archives: Abolitionism

October 9, 1862: London News says emigration won’t work

The New York Times reprinted an editorial from the London News, arguing that the solution to the fate of the freed slaves was to employ them as soldiers and in industry, not to colonize them to Africa. From the London … Continue reading

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October 3, 1862: We can’t afford emancipation

The Richmond Daily Dispatch wasn’t pleased with the Emancipation Proclamation, as we’ve seen. Here the editor goes on to warn that it will divide the North, and ruin the economy of the nation. And of course result in the descent … Continue reading

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October 1, 1862: Frederick Douglass on the Emancipation Proclamation

Frederick Douglass, in Douglass’ Monthly for October 1862, celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, and calls for renewed resolve to defeat the rebellion. EMANCIPATION PROCLAIMED Common sense, the necessities of the war, to say nothing of the dictation of justice and humanity … Continue reading

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September 30, 1862: The Richmond Daily Dispatch does not care for the Emancipation Proclamation

The editor of the Richmond Daily Dispatch, predictably, isn’t too happy about the Emancipation Proclamation. There’s also a certain element of “I told you so” in there. Southern radicals had insisted that the Republicans would abolish slavery, and here they … Continue reading

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September 24, 1862: “Then, henceforward, and forever free”

The president proclaims freedom. Note that this proclamation does not merely free slaves in places the Union government did not control; it abrogates the Fugitive Slave Act, assuring that any former slave who escaped to the North would be free. … Continue reading

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September 22, 1862: Free black men in Ohio

The Richmond Daily Dispatch reproduces a report from an Ohio paper complaining about freedmen “degrading white labor”. First fruits of Africanizing Ohio. –Several farmers of the Abolition persuasion in Athens County–we might mention Pedro and Simpson — have negroes employed … Continue reading

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August 29, 1862: The Union and Slavery

Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune had always been more aligned with the radical side of the Republican party, favoring abolition. The New York Times, representing the moderates, is pleased to see the Tribune supporting Lincoln’s “Union first” views. THE REBELLION … Continue reading

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August 24, 1862: Sherman to an old classmate – so you want your slaves back?

William T. Sherman had been president of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy in Baton Rouge before the war, and he had many Southern Friends — some of whom were even classmates of his from West Point. … Continue reading

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August 15, 1862: Freedom or no?

The Richmond Daily Dispatch reprinted an editorial exchange between two New York papers. As we have seen, the desire to keep the border states from seceding had been acting as a damper on the abolitionist tendencies of northern radicals — … Continue reading

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August 10, 1862: Hunter has to disband the First South Carolina Volunteers

David Hunter had overstepped his authority repeatedly on the issue of freeing and arming slaves, and the Union government still wasn’t ready for his ideas. Here he regretfully announces the disbanding of a regiment of freedmen in South Carolina. It … Continue reading

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