Chronicles the movement to abolish African slavery in the United States, explaining how an ancient practice evolved into the practices of the American South, and providing primary source documents that reveal the minds of key abolitionists and proslavery apologists.
Content Note
Chronology of American slavery and abolition -- From common practice to peculiar institution : slavery and abolitionism to 1816 -- The emergence of a national movement : 1816 to 1840 -- Growing pains of the abolition movement : 1840 to 1848 -- Slavery, abolition, and the West : 1848 to 1856 -- Toward the Civil War : slavery meets its doom : 1856 to 1865 -- Biographical profiles of key abolitionists.