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Niles' eight essays on the 'Mitigation of Slavery'...
Niles' eight essays on the 'Mitigation of Slavery'...
Item # 691745
May 08, 1819
NILES WEEKLY REGISTER, Baltimore
* The "Mitigation of Slavery" - 8 issues
* Serialized essay by Hezekiah Niles'
* His plan to abolish slavery in America
* His plan to abolish slavery in America
A set of 8 issues which contain all eight essays by publisher Hezekiah Niles titled the: "Mitigation of Slavery" in which he puts forth five propositions to that end.
The issues are dated May 8, 15, 22; June 19, 26; July 17; Aug. 14 & 21, 1819. The following details are excerpted from www.civilwarcause.com:
"In 1819, in the midst of intense frustration over the defeat of tariff legislation by slave-state senators, Niles embarked on an anti-slavery crusade in the pages of his newspaper. On May 8, Niles published an article, "The Mitigation of Slavery, No. 1," the first of a numbered series of articles on the slavery question. In earlier years, mentions of slavery in the pages of the Register were relatively scarce. Now they became frequent.
He set out five propositions (listed on the front page of May 8) that he would address in this and succeeding articles...As the editor of the nation's most influential newspaper, he was in an awesome position of power to sway the public to his cause. In this he must be regarded as one of the most important causing agents of the U. S. Civil War.
When Niles was done with his career, Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune took up the torch of anti-slavery and tariff protection. He, in turn, was joined by Henry Jarvis Raymond, founder of the New York Times and one of the founders of the Republican political party."
His last essay includes in part: "...We have thus passed through the series proposed & given our sentiments freely on the subject of slavery, and the means of mitigating its evils..." with much more.
Three of the issues have the Mitigation of Slavery articles beginning on the front page.
Each issue is complete in 16 pages, measures 6 by 9 1/2 inches, some typical foxing, one leaf is nearly close-trimmed at an article but causing no loss of text, very good condition.
AI notes: In 1819, Niles' Weekly Register published numerous articles addressing the growing national debate over slavery, especially tied to the Missouri Compromise. The publication promoted gradual emancipation, supported the American Colonization Society's efforts to send freed slaves to Africa, and featured political, moral, and economic arguments against slavery. While editor Hezekiah Niles was not an outright abolitionist, he advocated for the mitigation of slavery as a moral and national concern. The 1819 volumes captured Congressional debates, public opinion, and state resolutions calling for limiting slavery's expansion.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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