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4 - Free Soil

Prigg, Latimer, and Open Resistance in the Upper North

from Part II - 1838–1850

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2019

Robert H. Churchill
Affiliation:
University of Hartford, Connecticut
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Summary

The chapter concludes the section by describing the relatively open operations of the Underground Railroad in the Free Soil Region. The roots of a distinct Free Soil culture of violence based on open defiance lay in the emergence of an African American ethos of self-assertion and community self-defense and in the abolitionist movement’s break with the culture of dignity, which led the movement to embrace the use of restrained violence to defend the “free soil” of the North. As a consequence, Underground activists in the region pioneered new and more open modes of operation. In Upper North strongholds such as Detroit; Oberlin, OH; central New York State; and Boston, abolitionists and vigilance committees publicly announced the passage of fugitives from enslavement and their efforts to provide assistance. The chapter concludes by examining the region’s increasingly open and successful defiance of state and federal fugitive slave laws, paying particular attention to the communal, interracial, and public nature of the resistance with which activists defended the region against the intrusion of slave catchers, regardless of the latter’s behavior.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Free Soil
  • Robert H. Churchill, University of Hartford, Connecticut
  • Book: The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America
  • Online publication: 16 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108773997.005
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  • Free Soil
  • Robert H. Churchill, University of Hartford, Connecticut
  • Book: The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America
  • Online publication: 16 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108773997.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Free Soil
  • Robert H. Churchill, University of Hartford, Connecticut
  • Book: The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America
  • Online publication: 16 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108773997.005
Available formats
×