United States History Student Edition

In 1837, a mob attacked and killed newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy in Alton, Illinois. Identifying Cause and Effect Why did anti-abolitionists attack Elijah Lovejoy?

Many white Northerners worried that freed African Americans would never blend into society. Others argued that abolitionists would start a war between the North and South. Opposition to abolitionism sometimes became violent. In Philadelphia, a bloody race riot followed the burning of an antislavery group’s headquarters. In Boston, police had to put William Lloyd Garrison in jail in order to protect him from a mob. The abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy in Illinois was not so lucky. Angry whites invaded the offices of his antislavery newspaper and wrecked his printing presses three times. Three times Lovejoy installed new presses. The fourth time the mob attacked, it set fire to the building. When Lovejoy came out of the burning building, someone shot and killed him. White Southerners fought abolitionism with arguments seeking to justify slavery. They claimed that, besides being necessary to the Southern economy, slavery was what had allowed Southern whites to reach a high level of culture. White Southerners also argued that they treated enslaved people well. They claimed that Northern workers, who worked in factories for long hours at low wages, were worse off than enslaved people. They also argued that Northern workers had to pay for their own food and other goods and services from their small earnings, while enslaved African Americans received food, clothing, and medical care. Some white 420

Southerners even pointed to the existence of slavery in ancient Western civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, and in the Bible to justify the practice. Other defenses of slavery were more blatantly racist. Many whites insisted that African Americans were better off under white care than than they would be on their own. The conflict between proslavery and antislavery groups continued to mount. 7 CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING Describing How did many Southerners defend the institution of slavery? LESSON ACTIVITIES 1. Informative/Explanatory Writing Suppose that you are a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Write two to three paragraphs describing your work and explaining why you are willing to risk helping enslaved African Americans escape to freedom. 2. Using Multimedia Work in a small group to produce a multimedia presentation in which you describe the key figures and events of the abolitionist movement during the 1800s. Include quotations from both white and African American abolitionists. Illustrate your presentation; consider maps, photographs, drawings, songs, and other sources. As a group, present your project to the class.

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