in Lenawee County, Michigan, 1830 - 1860 by Charles Lindquist Copyright 1999 INTRODUCTION One of the most important social and political reform movements in the history of the United States was the antislavery movement which began in the 1820s. This movement could trace its roots back to Quaker thinking in the latter part of the eighteenth century. At that time many Northern whites thought that slavery might gradually die out on its own. This belief seemed unrealistic, though, by the 1820s. By that time the growth of the cotton economy in the American South had given slavery a new life. If slavery were to be ended, it seemed clear that it would take vigorous action to bring this about. The result was the emergence of antislavery societies and publications designed to make Americans aware that slavery was an evil and must be abolished. While the early antislavery leaders and groups were in large cities on the East Coast, it did not take long for these groups and their ideas to spread into the Old Northwest Territory running from Ohio and Michigan in the east to Illinois and Minnesota in the west. Many Easterners were moving into the Old Northwest during this period, and they were quick to take up the cause. In all of the Old Northwest, though, no area was quicker to embrace antislavery than Lenawee County, Michigan and the county remained a stronghold of this movement right up to the time of the Civil War. This particular history of the antislavery movement in Lenawee is intended to identify those areas, groups and individuals who were especially active in the cause. The history will limit itself to those aspects of the story that can be based on sources from the 1830 - 1860 era or to stories or short statements made later on by actual participants in the movement. What these materials will show, first of all, is how rapidly the movement spread all around the country in the 1830s. Beginning in Raisin Township among a group of Quakers, Presbyterians and Baptists, this movement soon spread to Blissfield, Franklin, Madison, Adrian and Rome areas. By the mid-1840s the antislavery movement had supporters in every single town and township in Lenawee, and they were having more and more of an impact on the thinking and the actions of the entire county. One of the areas where the antislavery forces sought to have a major impact was in politics. Simply put, if slavery were to be abolished, it would have to be through changes in the law, and that meant political action. Beginning with a small, radical Liberty Party in the early 1840s, the antislavery movement graduated to a larger but more moderate second party, the Free Soil Party, from 1848 to 1854. This then led to a third antislavery party in 1854 called the Republican Party. At once this new party became the only major alternative to the southern-dominated Democratic Party, and by 1860 it had become the dominate party in Lenawee, Michigan, and the entire North. As exciting and important as political antislavery activity was, the historical documents dating back to the 1830 - 1860 era also show the existence all through this period of a smaller radical group of Lenawee activists who avoided politics in favor of other kinds of action. The action primarily involved trying to reach the hearts and minds of the general public through lectures, pamphlets and books designed to show just how wicked slavery was and how the only real answer was the abolition of slavery NOW. For a few of these activists education also consisted of establishing formal schools which would be open to blacks as well as whites. Lenawee had the proud distinction of having two such schools the Raisin Institute and the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute. One of them, the Raisin Institute, is considered the first integrated school in Michigan. The other, the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute, has been called the first school in the Old Northwest Territory founded by African-Americans and incorporated at least in part by African-Americans. There was one further activity that engaged some of the radical antislavery activists. That was helping individual fugitive slaves who came into Lenawee from the south or the west. For some fugitive slaves, Lenawee was far enough and safe enough from the Slave South for them to want to stay here if they could. What activists did in these cases was to find land if the fugitive was a farmer or other work if he was not. If clothing and other necessities were required, they would be furnished as well. Other fugitive slaves felt it necessary to keep moving, and they would be helped as well. Often that seems to have meant providing the name of someone reliable in Monroe, Washtenaw or Wayne counties whom these fugitives could go to next in their travels. There were occasional special times, however, when more extraordinary measures were called for to help fugitive slaves. That usually meant protecting or rescuing alleged fugitive slaves from being captured or taken back to the South involuntarily by a slaveowner or his agent, a slave catcher. In cases like these the antislavery activists acted together as a vigilance committee to stand between the alleged slave and the slaveowner. The effectiveness of these vigilance committees can be measured by how many fugitive slaves were returned to the South against their will. The historical record seems to indicate that absolutely none were ever returned in this way from Lenawee. In the whole state of Michigan, in fact, there seem to be no accounts of alleged fugitive slaves being returned to the South against their will. It might be added at this point that the way in which the Underground Railroad seems to have operated in Lenawee had nothing to do with such alleged practices as tunnels, hidden rooms or staircases, passwords or symbols written on houses or barns. These practices might have occurred in other places, but there is no contemporary record or record from actual participants from latter years that such things ever happened in Lenawee. What seems to have been sufficient here was action by radical antislavery activists working together as a network of latter-day “Minutemen and women.” Sometimes this took the form of providing shelter, food, clothing, perhaps some land to farm or a name of another activist twenty or thirty miles further away from the South. Sometimes this took the form of gathering together to stand between a fugitive slave and a slave catcher even if this meant acting against the law. There is something else which might be mentioned at this point. The reader of this history will notice that it is rather detailed at times when mentioning the names of those involved in antislavery activities in Lenawee County before the Civil War. There are two reasons for this. First, a study of this kind has not been done before in terms of Lenawee in spite of perennial strong interest in the subject. People from the entire county are interested in knowing if anyone from their area was involved. With that in mind this history will detail many of the people involved from the various towns and townships. Second, while interest in the antislavery movement is strong generally, there is special interest in anyone who might have been involved in helping fugitive slaves. What seems to have been the case in Lenawee is that many of those involved in Underground Railroad activities were also involved in some other aspects of the antislavery movement. This seems to have been especially true of those connected to the radical abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, and to the Liberty Party. As far as can be seen, there was no secret coterie of “operators” hidden either from their neighbors or history. By the mention of names of those involved in all aspects of this antislavery movement, then, the reader will notice that often a person listed as active in radical politics or in Garrisonian educational efforts will also show up in accounts of those helping fugitive slaves. Perhaps one last point should be made here. While trying to list as many activities in the antislavery movements as possible, it is inevitable that some will be missed. A story as important and as interesting as this will always generate fresh sources and new information. The reader is encouraged to add to this story as he or she can. All that is asked is that legends that might have emerged about this person or that place in the years after the Civil War be regarded with some doubt unless there is confirmation from contemporary sources or from accounts written later by actual participants in the antislavery movement. For a list of those contemporary and later sources used by the author, please refer to the notes and bibliography at the back of the book. Finally, the author would like to thank the Orville and Ruth Merillat Foundation for its financial support of this project. The author would also like to thank Roger Fechner, Ray Linnard, and especially Jan Richardi for their editorial comments and help, as well as David Lindquist and Gina Watson for their research assistance. Selected Internet Resources for more Information: National Geographic - Underground Railroad: National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Resources in the United States from "Lenawee - A Harvest of Pride & Promise" Back To The Museum |
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