To Set This World Right: The Antislavery Movement in Thoreau's Concord

by Sandra Harbert Petrulionis

In the decade before the Civil War, Concord, Massachusetts, was a center of abolitionist sentiment and activism. To Set this World Right is the first book to recover and examine the voices, events, and influence of the antebellum antislavery movement in Concord. In addressing fundamental questions about the origin and nature of radical abolitionism in this most American of towns, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis frames the antislavery ideology of Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson―two of Concord's most famous residents―as a product of family and community activism and presents the civic context in which their outspoken abolitionism evolved. In this historic locale, radical abolitionism crossed racial, class, and gender lines as a confederation of neighbors fomented a radical consciousness, and Petrulionis documents how the Thoreaus, Emersons, and Alcotts worked in tandem with others in their community, including a slaveowner's daughter and a former slave. Additionally, she examines the basis on which Henry Thoreau―who cherished nothing more than solitary tramps through his beloved woods and bogs―has achieved lasting fame as a militant abolitionist. This book marshals rich archival evidence of the diverse tactics exploited by a small coterie of committed activists, largely women, who provoked their famous neighbors to action. In Concord, the fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins was clothed and fed as he made his way to freedom. In Concord, the adolescent daughters of John Brown attended school and recovered from their emotional distress after their father's notorious public hanging. Although most residents of the town maintained a practiced detachment from the plight of the enslaved, women and men whose sole objective was the moral urgency of abolishing slavery at last prevailed on the philosophers of self-culture to accept the responsibility of their reputations.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

264 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2006

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful, well-researched account of the anti-slavery movement in Concord, Massachusetts. Petrulionis traces the controversial development of the movement from the 1830s through the Civil War. In addition to the more famous players such as Ralph Waldo Emerson,Henry David Thoreau, and Franklin Sanborn, this work reintroduces the many women who were central to the movement, and who influenced Thoreau and Emerson to speak out for the cause.

[Tom Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and great use of primary sources. It is a dry read for non history folks.

[James Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally done, and exceptionally important. I have long thought that all of the Thoreaus, the Emersons, the Alcotts (especially Louisa May), and many others in the Concord area during the runup to the Civil War have been miscontectualized and their radicalized abolitionism activities whitewashed. These people all were part of the abolitionist vortex that, in its extended form, also included Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, William Lloyd Garrison, and more. Understanding their radicalism -- which included assertions of disunion from the slaveholding South prior to the Civil War -- is a necessary element of understanding the other activities we know them for. The novels, speeches, plays, and essays ring flat if you don't also understand that, for instance, the Thoreaus were actively harboring and transporting fugitives from Southern slavery, or that there was a sustained 30 year antislavery and abolitionist effort in Concord, led mostly by women, that became more potent and radicalized over time. They ring flat also if you fail to understand the longstanding tension between non-violent resistance -- moral suasion -- and armed resistance between and among members of the abolitionist cohort.

This tension is older than the famous SNCC versus Black Panthers conflict.

Exceptions noted for the Hawthorne's, who...well...aren't much a part of the story.

Brilliant work by Dr. Petrulionis to tease all of this out of the primary documentation and present it often against the prevailing scholarly grain. It was high time for this powerful undercurrent to see the light of day.

Side note: the descriptions of Boston protests surrounding the capture and deportation of fugitive slaves resemble very much the descriptions of protest surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, quite simply, one of the best books I have read recently! It gives a great account of life in 19th Century Concord, Massachusetts and the anti-slavery activity that went on there from the 1830's through the end of the Civil War.
Concord, of course, was the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau and the Alcott family, and all were involved in the abolition movement.
If you want to find out more about 19th Century life, or the anti-slavery movement or about the Concord authors in general, this is the book for you!
What I learned from this book is some thing I already knew: well written history is never dull and always a good read!

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting picture of Concord's antislavery movement, (especially for me since it's just a few miles from where I live). At the end, I felt like I personally knew the main players - famous like Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau and not so famous like Mary Merrick Brooks - so much that I almost expect to meet them now when I pass the places they lived and worked. A foot-noted, scholarly work, but at the same time very engaging and readable.

[Careyvox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I never learned American history until now. One book taught me more than all classes I took in college. Bravo!