Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-06-18
Abolitionists in Council.
From the Chicago Journal.l

From the Chicago Journal
The gathering of the old-line Abo-
ltionsts in this city mustcrowd to the
front host of conflicting memories,
fruitful of suggestions. Some of the
men present helped inaugurate the an
ti-slavery movement. Before their
day nothing decisive had been done.
Lafayette tried to enlist General Wash
ington's cooperation in colonization
movement, but failed; Thomas Jeffer
son introduced in the Virginia Legis-
latuae bill declaring that all persons
born after its passage should be free,
but it was defeated. DIR. George Blu
chanan, of Baltimore, raised his voice
against slavery without eliciting re-
spouse; Woolman and Lundy, after
encountering much opposition, sue
ceeded in placing the denomination of
Friends upon the side of emancipa.
ton. A few other isolated and trivial
triurnphs for freedom were won in
America. But the movement did not
fairly begin until Garrison, Whittier,
Beriah Green, Gerrit Smith, Goodell,
Loveioy and their peers put their
shoulders to the wheel. Their success
was more due to the ripening of
events than to the superiority of their
efforts, just as Luther succeeded
where others had failed because the
people were prepared for reformation.
The movement received its first no.
table impetus and its first set.back at
the same time. The Buffalo Conyen-
ton of 184s challenged attention, 1t
brought the cause of emancipation to
the attention of the masses Up to
that time the number who had as much
as heard of abolitionism was compar-
atiyely small. "No more slave States,
no more slave territory" was the mot
to Of that convention, and the sentl-
ment embodied therein found lodg-
ment in the public mind. Men could
not forget it, and were compelled to
admit its Justice. The idea of hedg'
ing about the institution, and thus
killing it, was rendered somewhat ia
miliar to the country. The popular
mind was soil into which that seed
thought fell, and gradually germlnat'
ed. For that reason we say the
movement received powerful impe-
tus from that convention.
The setback was due to the fact
that Martin Van Buren, was the nom
inee Of the convention. The platform
was useful; the ticket was injurious
Everybody knew that the foxy Cit
tie VAN was actuated by petty re-
vengo, and not by any regard for the
oppressed. The acceptance of him
for leader gave to the Free Soil
party the odor of demagogism. II
brought the cause into disrepute. lie
had for associate on the ticket Chatles
Francis Adams, then a young man
noted only as being the son of bis
father and the grandson of his grand
| father. He had not then rendered
any conspicuous service to the cause,
nor did he at any time thereafter
His reputation was achieved IN dip
lomacy. Van Buren's candidacy in
1848 was serious misfortune to the
cause of liberty, except as it may have
served to give notoriety to the grand
plank on which he was compelled to
stand. The politicians who were won
| TO the support of the ticket by his
name soon fell from grace and for the
| most part became over jealous in the
service of the slave power, seemingly
| ANXIOUS to make atonement for their
spasm of abolitionism.
The darkest period in the war be-
tween freedom and slavery was when
the Fugitive Slave law was passed,
twenty-four years ago, and all the
people said amen. The churches, with
the exception of the Friends, We'd in
servility to the slave power, as did the
two dominant parties of the day. 1t
seemed absurd then to raise the cry
of "No more slave States; no more
slave territory" But in ten years q
new party, with that cry for motto,
swept the country. The blackness OF
1850 obliterated the odium of l84e
without killing the seeds of liberty
then sowed in the hearts of the peo-
pie The reaction was swift and ir-
resistible. Never was there grand
er change of front in public opinion.
The men whose anti-slavery record
ante-dates the organization of the Re-
publican party have good reason for
glorifcation.