Contents

Acknowledgments­

Introduction

1 / Activist Taproots: Place, Reform, and the Quest for Unity

2 / Scrubbing at the “Bloody Stain of Oppression”: A Human Rights Movement against Unjust Laws, 1830–1849

3 / “Stand Firm on the Platform of Truth”: Freedom of Assembly and Local Antislavery Organizations in the Old Northwest

4 / “The Palladium of Our Liberties”: Freedom of the Press in the Old Northwest, 1837–1848

5 / “An Odd Place for Navigation”: Itinerant Lecturers and Freedom of Speech, 1830–1849

6 / Itinerant Lecturers in a Fracturing Nation, 1850–1861­­

7 / The Potential for Radical Change: The Turbulent 1850s, the Civil War, and Resilient Racism

Conclusion­

Appendix: Old Northwest Population Statistics, 1800–1870

Notes to Introduction

Notes to Chapter 1

Notes to Chapter 2

Notes to Chapter 3

Notes to Chapter 4

Notes to Chapter 5

Notes to Chapter 6

Notes to Chapter 7

Notes to Conclusion

Bibliography

Index