A New York Times bestselling author reveals the story of a nearly forgotten moment in American history, when mass violence was not an aberration, but a regular activity—and nearly extinguished the Abolition movement.
The 1830s were the most violent time in American history outside of war. Men battled each other in the streets in ethnic and religious conflicts, gangs of party henchmen rioted at the ballot box, and assault and murder were common enough as to seem unremarkable. The president who presided over the era, Andrew Jackson, was himself a duelist and carried lead in his body from previous gunfights. It all made for such a volatile atmosphere that a young Abraham Lincoln said “outrages committed by mobs form the every-day news of the times.”
The principal targets of mob violence were abolitionists and black citizens, who had begun to question the foundation of the U.S. economy — chattel slavery — and demand an end to it. Led by figures like William Lloyd Garrison and James Forten, the anti-slavery movement grew from a small band of committed activists to a growing social force that attracted new followers in the hundreds, and enemies in the thousands. Even in the North, abolitionists faced almost unimaginable hatred, with newspaper publishers, businessmen with a stake in the slave trade, and politicians of all stripes demanding they be suppressed, silenced or even executed.
Carrying bricks and torches, guns and knives, mobs created pandemonium, and forced the abolition movement to answer key questions as it began to grow: Could nonviolence work in the face of arson and attempted murder? Could its leaders stick together long enough to build a movement with staying power, or would they turn on each other first? And could it survive to last through the decade, and inspire a new generation of activists to fight for the cause?
J.D. Dickey reveals the stories of these Black and White men and women who persevered against such threats to demand that all citizens be given the chance for freedom and liberty embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Their sacrifices and strategies would set a precedent for the social movements to follow, and lead the nation toward war and emancipation, in the most turbulent era of our republic of violence.
Hard Cover.
About the author: J.D. Dickey has been writing books for 20 years, notably narrative nonfiction about American history, society and culture. Of his book, Rising in Flames, Harold Holzer in the Wall Street Journal wrote, "No one interested in Sherman’s March should be deprived of his lively narrative. Absolutely spellbinding." His earlier book, Empire of Mud, was a New York Times bestseller and described the troubled landscape of Washington, D.C., in the nineteenth century. He has also written articles on a broad range of historical and political topics for newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and magazines like Time, and appeared in media from C-SPAN's Book TV to Public Radio International's program The Takeaway. In support of his work, he has lectured for the New York Historical Society, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, the Atlanta History Center, and the U.S. Army War College, among other organizations. In addition to his nonfiction work, he has penned short stories for print and the web, and been featured on several literary venues including LitHub.
