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The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition
Winner of the 2017 Frederick Douglass Prize
A groundbreaking history of abolition that recovers the largely forgotten role of African Americans in the long march toward emancipation from the American Revolution through the Civil War
Received historical wisdom casts abolitionists as bourgeois, mostly white reformers burdened by racial paternalism and economic conservatism. Manisha Sinha overturns this image, broadening her scope beyond the antebellum period usually associated with abolitionism and recasting it as a radical social movement in which men and women, black and white, free and enslaved found common ground in causes ranging from feminism and utopian socialism to anti-imperialism and efforts to defend the rights of labor. Drawing on extensive archival research, including newly discovered letters and pamphlets, Sinha documents the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the centrality of slave resistance in shaping the ideology and tactics of abolition. This book is a comprehensive new history of the abolition movement in a transnational context. It illustrates how the abolitionist vision ultimately linked the slave’s cause to the struggle to redefine American democracy and human rights across the globe.
Honors include:
A groundbreaking history of abolition that recovers the largely forgotten role of African Americans in the long march toward emancipation from the American Revolution through the Civil War
Received historical wisdom casts abolitionists as bourgeois, mostly white reformers burdened by racial paternalism and economic conservatism. Manisha Sinha overturns this image, broadening her scope beyond the antebellum period usually associated with abolitionism and recasting it as a radical social movement in which men and women, black and white, free and enslaved found common ground in causes ranging from feminism and utopian socialism to anti-imperialism and efforts to defend the rights of labor. Drawing on extensive archival research, including newly discovered letters and pamphlets, Sinha documents the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the centrality of slave resistance in shaping the ideology and tactics of abolition. This book is a comprehensive new history of the abolition movement in a transnational context. It illustrates how the abolitionist vision ultimately linked the slave’s cause to the struggle to redefine American democracy and human rights across the globe.
Honors include:
784 pages, Paperback
First published February 9, 2016
117 people are currently reading
2034 people want to read
About the author
Manisha Sinha
20 books55 followersManisha Sinha is professor at the University of Connecticut and the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History. She was born in India and received her Ph.D from Columbia University where her dissertation was nominated for the Bancroft prize. In 2017, she was named one of Top Twenty Five Women in Higher Education by the magazine Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
Sinha's research interests lie in United States history, especially the transnational histories of slavery and abolition and the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Sinha's research interests lie in United States history, especially the transnational histories of slavery and abolition and the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
February 28, 2025
The Slave’s Cause is a comprehensive, nearly exhaustive treatment of the abolition movement, from the eighteenth century onward. If your primary objective is a serious study of its subject then you should consider this a necessary book.
If, however, you also wish to read for pleasure, then look elsewhere. This book is incredibly dense and detailed, and definitely prioritized completeness over any consideration of its audience. Approach it as an academic textbook, and you will have its measure.
If, however, you also wish to read for pleasure, then look elsewhere. This book is incredibly dense and detailed, and definitely prioritized completeness over any consideration of its audience. Approach it as an academic textbook, and you will have its measure.
January 14, 2019
This is a great and necessary history, but feels like a missed opportunity in some ways. The author appears to be caught between trying to provide a definitive academic text on the abolition movement and writing for a more general audience. As a reader with no academic background in history (but a strong interest in it), I found this book difficult to follow at times, mainly because of the way she provides pointillistic detail of the entire panorama without pulling out specific narratives to highlight. The arc of individual abolitionist's lives and careers are often fragmented across multiple chapters, making it difficult to keep track of who is who, which isn't helped by the fact that the author generally refers to people solely by their surname after the first time they have been introduced (regardless of how many pages have passed since the last time she mentioned them). I found myself frequently flipping back to the index to try and remind myself of who someone was, and then finding myself unable to find the index entry that gave the best overview of them (since there generally was not an obvious or comprehensive introduction of each person). Combine this with the fact that the expository passages in this book tend to be very short, and at times you get a disjointed and confusing reading experience, which left me feeling like I may have missed the forest for the trees. I would be more inclined to blame the inattentiveness of the reader, but I read history books pretty frequently, and I don't tend to find this issue. Still, these complaints may detract somewhat from the reading experience, but this remains an indispensable history of a movement whose impact has been (as the author persuasively argues) understated.
October 23, 2017
Comprehensive and engaging long history of abolition that leaves (practically) no stone unturned. A fine testament to Sinha's decade of research and the studies of abolitionism that came before her. Firmly centers African Americans at the center of the narrative, reminding readers that they played the most important part in the movement. Perhaps too smooth of a narrative (it has a tendency to gloss over conflicts, slow progress, and schisms), it nonetheless sets out to prove that abolition was a radical and interracial movement that has inspired numerous other activist movements since. The nearly 600 page book is excellent for reference, but tells a fascinating story as well.
November 30, 2019
Simply spectacular. The best book I've read this year. This is quite possibly *the* history of abolition. At nearly 600 pages of text and another 200 in endnotes, this book is a sourcebook of nearly 200 years of the movement(s), with an eye especially focused on the role of enslaved and free blacks, and women. This book overturns some longstanding tropes and caricatures, and is greatly to be welcomed. Most of all, this is the history of America I've been hungry for, the long story of the real heroes in this country. I absolutely loved this book, and can't recommend it highly enough.
July 10, 2020
Manisha Sinha’s The Slave’s Cause presents a stellar chronicle of the abolition movements of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Sinha charts antislavery movements from the mid-1700s through the American Revolution, the emancipation of slaves in Britain and France and America’s political battles leading to the Civil War. Her narrative sketches a variety of well-known figures, black and white, American or European, involved in the movement: British antislavery leaders William Wilberforce and Granville Sharp, radical American abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown, politicians John Quincy Adams and William Seward, escaped slaves-turned-activists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, etc. These personages share space with lesser-known, but equally important activists: Olaudah Equiano, who in 1789 published the first modern slave narrative which played a major role in banning the slave trade; Absalom Jones, founder of the African Methodist and Episcopal Church; Sarah Moore and Angelina Grimke, the Quaker sisters who forged a bond between abolition and women’s rights; Robert Dale Owen, the eccentric politician-diplomat who mated abolitionism with spiritualist thought and socialist principles; Frances Harper, a Maryland freedwoman who gained renown as a poet while moonlighting on the Underground Railroad; William Parker, a fugitive slave in Pennsylvania who led the Christiana Resistance against slave catchers in September 1851; Radical Republicans Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens; and many more.
Thus, Sinha’s book demonstrates how these seemingly disparate figures formed a movement broader, more powerful and more diverse than frequently depicted. Far from unimportant fringe figures, they held positions throughout American (and European) society, organizing support in churches, literary circles, political societies and extant social movements. Sinha also shows the degree of international contacts between American and European abolitionists, and how events both domestic (the Amistad case, the rebellions of Nat Turner and others, the Fugitive Slave Act and Dredd Scott) and foreign (the Haitian War for Independence as an inspiration for slaves, the Revolutions of 1848 and the subsequent emigration of radical Germans to the United States) influenced and inspired American abolitionists. These men and women faced derision, marginalization, imprisonment, threats and often violence, from assassinations to full-fledged riots, but never wavered. She further stresses the continuity between different stages of the movement; where many historians see a lacunae between different eras of activism, Sinha depicts a continuous movement whose power waxed and waned, but who refused to vanish no matter how unpopular their position seemed.
It’s also to Sinha’s credit that she doesn’t shy away from the movement’s shortcomings. The movement inevitably disagreed on tactics, while its attempts to form alliances with other social groups (particularly those advocating women’s suffrage) often triggered dissension and infighting. She does show, usefully, that the idea of “colonizing” freed blacks to Africa or the Caribbean was almost universally unpopular among abolitionists of both races, despite its endorsement by “moderate” antislavery voices well into the Civil War. And the eccentricities of its leaders - Garrison’s denunciation of the Constitution and advocating secession of freed states, the dabbling of Owen, Victoria Woodhull and others in spiritualism, free love and other fringe beliefs - made it easier for proslavery opponents and moderates to depict them as unpopular fanatics. But, as Sinha illustration, they were anything but: at worst, abolitionists were persistent gadflies who forced America to confront its original sin. At best, they were a movement whose power and moral force, however much opposition and ridicule they generated, couldn’t be stopped. As such, The Slave’s Cause provides an invaluable addition to extant literature on slavery, abolition and the history of antebellum America.
Thus, Sinha’s book demonstrates how these seemingly disparate figures formed a movement broader, more powerful and more diverse than frequently depicted. Far from unimportant fringe figures, they held positions throughout American (and European) society, organizing support in churches, literary circles, political societies and extant social movements. Sinha also shows the degree of international contacts between American and European abolitionists, and how events both domestic (the Amistad case, the rebellions of Nat Turner and others, the Fugitive Slave Act and Dredd Scott) and foreign (the Haitian War for Independence as an inspiration for slaves, the Revolutions of 1848 and the subsequent emigration of radical Germans to the United States) influenced and inspired American abolitionists. These men and women faced derision, marginalization, imprisonment, threats and often violence, from assassinations to full-fledged riots, but never wavered. She further stresses the continuity between different stages of the movement; where many historians see a lacunae between different eras of activism, Sinha depicts a continuous movement whose power waxed and waned, but who refused to vanish no matter how unpopular their position seemed.
It’s also to Sinha’s credit that she doesn’t shy away from the movement’s shortcomings. The movement inevitably disagreed on tactics, while its attempts to form alliances with other social groups (particularly those advocating women’s suffrage) often triggered dissension and infighting. She does show, usefully, that the idea of “colonizing” freed blacks to Africa or the Caribbean was almost universally unpopular among abolitionists of both races, despite its endorsement by “moderate” antislavery voices well into the Civil War. And the eccentricities of its leaders - Garrison’s denunciation of the Constitution and advocating secession of freed states, the dabbling of Owen, Victoria Woodhull and others in spiritualism, free love and other fringe beliefs - made it easier for proslavery opponents and moderates to depict them as unpopular fanatics. But, as Sinha illustration, they were anything but: at worst, abolitionists were persistent gadflies who forced America to confront its original sin. At best, they were a movement whose power and moral force, however much opposition and ridicule they generated, couldn’t be stopped. As such, The Slave’s Cause provides an invaluable addition to extant literature on slavery, abolition and the history of antebellum America.
September 28, 2019
An incredible book to have on one’s shelf, filled with spectacular histories and stories. Four stars because it might be a better reference book than something to be read straight through. I no doubt will be turning back to this book often to look up what abolitionists we’re doing and advocating for at different times in American history.
August 17, 2016
This is a really well-written history of abolitionism which centers the struggles and organizing of black abolitionists, fugitives, and rebels and does much to argue for the profound radicalism of the abolitionist project.
December 14, 2017
Well-researched and I liked the emphasis on Black abolitionism. However, I found the writing awfully dry and the book required a lot of focus, so it was slow going.
October 2, 2021
psa: I skimmed some of the book.
Manisha Sinha does considerable work with The Slave’s Cause. Sinha tasks herself with showing the reader that abolitionism was primarily driven by enslaved and free blacks. In every chapter, Sinha does her utter best to show how African Americans led the charge for their own freedom. The sheer size and information in the book leave the reader something to be in awe over after they have finished the work.
Sinha explains abolition as occurring in different waves in American history. The layout of the abolition movement in The Slave’s Cause is linear, starting in 1781 and ending with the Emancipation Proclamation. Sinha forces readers to rethink how American history and the abolition period has been taught to them. Shifting the narrative from the white savior lens to the lens of African Americans, who she claims, did the gritty base work of the abolition movement.
Manisha Sinha displays the duality of Christianity in American society and in the abolition movement. Sinha says, “the ideological underpinnings of black antislavery lay in an antiracist construction of Christianity” (37). The deconstruction of weaponized Christianity from racists by Anglo-Americans and African Americans through the Great Awakenings helped give life to those who struggled with the racist message of slaveholding Christianity. Sinha shows abolition’s religious beginnings were not just with the white church but religious African Americans helped lead the way as well.
Hammering the point of African Americans leading the abolition movement in the United States, Sinha explains in “the first wave of Anglo-American abolition was not, as is commonly thought, an all-white movement” (138). African Americans added credibility and shouldered the movement and would continue to do some until emancipation. The explanation of African Americans helping the movement provides clarity for how it spread and kept going until the emancipation of the slaves. Emancipation might have occurred naturally over time but the constant drive and unwavering determination of African Americans sped the process up in American history. Black abolitionists led the charge for racial solidarity and “highly critical public voice against the persistence of enslavement and discrimination” (139).
Women play an important role in the abolition movement. Manisha Sinha states women carried the abolition movement. They were “most effective foot soldiers” and “African American women played a crucial part in the rise of militant black abolitionism” (275). Women are often overlooked in historical narratives, but Sinha prepares an entire chapter to the influence of women in abolition and how abolition influenced women. Never shirking from the main narrative, Sinha pushes black women being at the “forefront of female abolitionism” (279). The idea of women leading the charge in abolition can be mind-boggling for modern readers but Sinha presents careful evidence of how and why they guided the movement effectively.
I believe Sinha opens a new chapter in the historiography of abolition. She lays out abolition history in way I have not been exposed to before; the idea of African Americans being the driving force of abolition is not something I was taught. Hammering home the idea of African Americans as the primary leaders behind abolition is new to me. Showing the various characters who helped push abolition in its different waves was overwhelming to me. Familiar faces like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Jacobs were comforting. However seeing so many lesser-known and unnamed African Americans who played their part in pioneering the abolition movement made me realize Sinha is doing a revisionist work, and perhaps other historians should look at doing the same thing. Manisha Sinha’s book is worth reading multiple times to glean all the information in it.
Manisha Sinha does considerable work with The Slave’s Cause. Sinha tasks herself with showing the reader that abolitionism was primarily driven by enslaved and free blacks. In every chapter, Sinha does her utter best to show how African Americans led the charge for their own freedom. The sheer size and information in the book leave the reader something to be in awe over after they have finished the work.
Sinha explains abolition as occurring in different waves in American history. The layout of the abolition movement in The Slave’s Cause is linear, starting in 1781 and ending with the Emancipation Proclamation. Sinha forces readers to rethink how American history and the abolition period has been taught to them. Shifting the narrative from the white savior lens to the lens of African Americans, who she claims, did the gritty base work of the abolition movement.
Manisha Sinha displays the duality of Christianity in American society and in the abolition movement. Sinha says, “the ideological underpinnings of black antislavery lay in an antiracist construction of Christianity” (37). The deconstruction of weaponized Christianity from racists by Anglo-Americans and African Americans through the Great Awakenings helped give life to those who struggled with the racist message of slaveholding Christianity. Sinha shows abolition’s religious beginnings were not just with the white church but religious African Americans helped lead the way as well.
Hammering the point of African Americans leading the abolition movement in the United States, Sinha explains in “the first wave of Anglo-American abolition was not, as is commonly thought, an all-white movement” (138). African Americans added credibility and shouldered the movement and would continue to do some until emancipation. The explanation of African Americans helping the movement provides clarity for how it spread and kept going until the emancipation of the slaves. Emancipation might have occurred naturally over time but the constant drive and unwavering determination of African Americans sped the process up in American history. Black abolitionists led the charge for racial solidarity and “highly critical public voice against the persistence of enslavement and discrimination” (139).
Women play an important role in the abolition movement. Manisha Sinha states women carried the abolition movement. They were “most effective foot soldiers” and “African American women played a crucial part in the rise of militant black abolitionism” (275). Women are often overlooked in historical narratives, but Sinha prepares an entire chapter to the influence of women in abolition and how abolition influenced women. Never shirking from the main narrative, Sinha pushes black women being at the “forefront of female abolitionism” (279). The idea of women leading the charge in abolition can be mind-boggling for modern readers but Sinha presents careful evidence of how and why they guided the movement effectively.
I believe Sinha opens a new chapter in the historiography of abolition. She lays out abolition history in way I have not been exposed to before; the idea of African Americans being the driving force of abolition is not something I was taught. Hammering home the idea of African Americans as the primary leaders behind abolition is new to me. Showing the various characters who helped push abolition in its different waves was overwhelming to me. Familiar faces like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Jacobs were comforting. However seeing so many lesser-known and unnamed African Americans who played their part in pioneering the abolition movement made me realize Sinha is doing a revisionist work, and perhaps other historians should look at doing the same thing. Manisha Sinha’s book is worth reading multiple times to glean all the information in it.
November 24, 2022
This is a tome. It’s huge. Which reflects the length of time this author is covering - the earliest days of the abolition cause up to the “second wave” in the 1800s. It’s certainly ambitious and has lots to say, but the fact that it is both a comprehensive history and an argumentative (in that it has several arguments it is trying to convince the reader of) one kind of does it a disservice. If it was one or the other I think it would work better. Plus, it often feels like there is tangents all over the place regarding the scholarship she is interacting with. It also feels weird that she talks about scholarship’s failures of dealing with the abolition properly, but mostly cites the Dunning school, which is largely discredited these days. What other authors is she referring to? Couldn’t say, it gets lost in the sauce.
Which is really the core problem of this book. There’s too much sauce, not enough pasta - and by that I mean clear through lines of points and arguments that are articulated effectively. The points and arguments that are present are all ones I wanted her to expand on further but was left feeling a bit dissatisfied.
The only thing I feel I would perhaps push back on is her interpretation of abolitionists as anti-capitalist. It just feels like she’s projecting some aspect of her own politics onto that, possibly. I do not feel she argued that convincingly, in any rate.
That said, this is an amazing resource for information about the abolition movement, which really shows how international the movement was and how much the slaves themselves played an integral role in the movement itself - this was not an American phenomena and it was not the sphere of strictly white people with savior complexes, and the author articulated that well. That is where this book shines the brightest.
Which is really the core problem of this book. There’s too much sauce, not enough pasta - and by that I mean clear through lines of points and arguments that are articulated effectively. The points and arguments that are present are all ones I wanted her to expand on further but was left feeling a bit dissatisfied.
The only thing I feel I would perhaps push back on is her interpretation of abolitionists as anti-capitalist. It just feels like she’s projecting some aspect of her own politics onto that, possibly. I do not feel she argued that convincingly, in any rate.
That said, this is an amazing resource for information about the abolition movement, which really shows how international the movement was and how much the slaves themselves played an integral role in the movement itself - this was not an American phenomena and it was not the sphere of strictly white people with savior complexes, and the author articulated that well. That is where this book shines the brightest.
January 27, 2022
A newish, sweeping history of abolition in the US. It's very well-researched and makes some important arguments about the abolition movement. It's insightful on the schisms in the movement and methods used to advance the cause. By nature it lacks a single character or organization to focus the narrative on, but Sinha does a good job organizing the book and finding people and events to capture your attention.
Sinha's treatment of the Native American question in the abolition movement leaves a lot to be desired. Settler colonialism is mentioned once or twice, but not adequately incorporated into the sweeping history. One main engine of abolitionist or anti-slavery action was a belief in an all-white West, which was facilitated by native cultural and physical removal. See Lyman Beecher's Plea for the West. Additionally, the last chapter on the last years before the Civil War and the war itself was too short, and sprinted through the critical years of warfare and abolition. Whereas the previous 14 chapters was sweeping in its coverage of abolition and its actors across the world, this chapter was too focused on Abraham Lincoln.
Sinha's treatment of the Native American question in the abolition movement leaves a lot to be desired. Settler colonialism is mentioned once or twice, but not adequately incorporated into the sweeping history. One main engine of abolitionist or anti-slavery action was a belief in an all-white West, which was facilitated by native cultural and physical removal. See Lyman Beecher's Plea for the West. Additionally, the last chapter on the last years before the Civil War and the war itself was too short, and sprinted through the critical years of warfare and abolition. Whereas the previous 14 chapters was sweeping in its coverage of abolition and its actors across the world, this chapter was too focused on Abraham Lincoln.
September 18, 2020
I don't know if I would recommend reading it cover to cover. It might be better as a reference guide, reading specific sections as jumping off points for studying specific periods of abolitionism. Because it is so sweeping in its scope, it is difficult to retain the flurry of information in each chapter.
That said, a more thorough one-volume history of abolition you couldn't find. Reading it was often a source of inspiration and hope for me. I will be returning to it again and again.
(Warning: your reading list will grow A LOT if you read this book.)
That said, a more thorough one-volume history of abolition you couldn't find. Reading it was often a source of inspiration and hope for me. I will be returning to it again and again.
(Warning: your reading list will grow A LOT if you read this book.)
February 15, 2018
Great subject but way long...
October 18, 2020
Dense and informative. Meticulously fills out the picture of black abolitionists' influence.
March 3, 2021
An very, very detailed account of the history of abolition. Well researched and clearly written, with an exhaustive index available to find whatever it is you're looking for in this book.
September 15, 2020
"In January 1856 a family of eight Kentucky slaves—Simon, Mary, and their twenty-one-year-old son, Robert Garner, who all belonged to one James Marshall, along with Robert’s pregnant twenty-two-year-old wife Margaret Garner and her four children, Thomas, Sam, Mary, and Cilla, belonging to Archibald Gaines—crossed over the “Fugitive Slaves’ bridge,” the frozen Ohio River. They went straight to the cabin of the Kites, a free black family headed by Margaret’s uncle, who had bought his children from slavery. Her cousin Elijah Kites alerted Levi Coffin in Cincinnati of their arrival, and Coffin advised that the Garners be moved immediately. Soon after Elijah returned, however, Deputy Marshal George Bennet, armed with a warrant from the federal commissioner John L. Pendery and accompanied by Marshal Calvin Butts and deputies from Kentucky, Gaines, and Thomas Marshall, the son of James, surrounded the cabin. The Garners refused to surrender and as the authorities forced their way into the cabin, Robert Garner fired and injured one of the deputies. At the prospect of being captured, Margaret decapitated her two-year-old-daughter, Mary, with a carving knife and attempted to kill her other children. They “fought with the ferocity of tigers.”
The couple had borne their share of the cruelties of border state slavery and had no intention of returning. Robert, called Samuel by his owners and in court records, had been incessantly hired out, and Margaret, called Peggy by her owners, after having their first child, had given birth to three mixed-race children. A white neighbor of the Kites testified that he saw Gaines sobbing and carrying Mary’s body. He had most likely abused Margaret over a long period. During her trial, when asked about a scar on her face, Garner responded, “White man struck me.” She calmly reiterated her determination to kill her children rather than have them grow up in slavery. In proslavery telling, Garner was an unfeeling monster, but to abolitionists like Garrison, Henry C. Wright, and Parker she was a proud slave mother saving her daughters from a life of degradation. In a widely reproduced speech in the abolitionist press, Rev. Henry Bushnell anointed her a “heroic wife” and noble mother. The black women of Cincinnati waved their handkerchiefs in support when she appeared after her arrest.
As Margaret’s example shows, enslaved women were just as capable of violent resistance to slavery as men. A year earlier a young, pregnant slave in Missouri, Celia, whose middle-aged widower master had bought her when she was just fourteen, had killed him after suffering years of abuse. Having borne two of his children and wanting to marry a fellow slave, Celia had dispatched him and burned his body when he tried to rape her while she was pregnant. Garrison reported the case in his “Catalogue of Southern Crimes and Horrors,” but modern historians have only recently discovered it. Celia was tried for murder and convicted; her case was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which stood by the decision of the lower court. Unable to make a self-defense plea stick and having attempted escape, Celia was hanged. The rape of a black woman was not recognized in slave law, and Missouri had been whipped into a proslavery frenzy over the battle for Kansas by its fire-eating senator David Atchinson and the Irish-born president of the University of Missouri, James Shannon."
The couple had borne their share of the cruelties of border state slavery and had no intention of returning. Robert, called Samuel by his owners and in court records, had been incessantly hired out, and Margaret, called Peggy by her owners, after having their first child, had given birth to three mixed-race children. A white neighbor of the Kites testified that he saw Gaines sobbing and carrying Mary’s body. He had most likely abused Margaret over a long period. During her trial, when asked about a scar on her face, Garner responded, “White man struck me.” She calmly reiterated her determination to kill her children rather than have them grow up in slavery. In proslavery telling, Garner was an unfeeling monster, but to abolitionists like Garrison, Henry C. Wright, and Parker she was a proud slave mother saving her daughters from a life of degradation. In a widely reproduced speech in the abolitionist press, Rev. Henry Bushnell anointed her a “heroic wife” and noble mother. The black women of Cincinnati waved their handkerchiefs in support when she appeared after her arrest.
As Margaret’s example shows, enslaved women were just as capable of violent resistance to slavery as men. A year earlier a young, pregnant slave in Missouri, Celia, whose middle-aged widower master had bought her when she was just fourteen, had killed him after suffering years of abuse. Having borne two of his children and wanting to marry a fellow slave, Celia had dispatched him and burned his body when he tried to rape her while she was pregnant. Garrison reported the case in his “Catalogue of Southern Crimes and Horrors,” but modern historians have only recently discovered it. Celia was tried for murder and convicted; her case was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which stood by the decision of the lower court. Unable to make a self-defense plea stick and having attempted escape, Celia was hanged. The rape of a black woman was not recognized in slave law, and Missouri had been whipped into a proslavery frenzy over the battle for Kansas by its fire-eating senator David Atchinson and the Irish-born president of the University of Missouri, James Shannon."
October 26, 2020
I was very excited by the idea of this book: it set out to document the history of abolitionism, emphasizing the agency and centrality of African Americans in the movement. I know little about that area of history, but she presented the book as the first one to study many black leaders, and that's something to be praised for.
The book has two main problems. First, Sinha seems to be writing against a narrative that underestimates the role of blacks in Abolition. At no point, however, she bothers to flesh out or even state this narrative. It can only be inferred from puzzling statements and shifts in tone. The book has at times a combative tone, forever fighting against an invisible enemy. Perhaps it's a reaction to a mainstream and well-known position in academia, but to a lay reader it's quite puzzling.
Second, the book evidences an encyclopedic knowledge about the Abolition movement, but sadly reads like an encyclopedia. In Chapter 5, for example, she talks about the different civil societies freemen founded in the North. The unfortunate structure she chose for this task is to name every society and its founders, and then give a three paragraph description of the lives of each founder. The chapter becomes a long series of minor societies and brief biographies, with little connection or common thread. This is emblematic of the book, which is more a useful compilation of biographies than a cogent history of the topic.
The book has two main problems. First, Sinha seems to be writing against a narrative that underestimates the role of blacks in Abolition. At no point, however, she bothers to flesh out or even state this narrative. It can only be inferred from puzzling statements and shifts in tone. The book has at times a combative tone, forever fighting against an invisible enemy. Perhaps it's a reaction to a mainstream and well-known position in academia, but to a lay reader it's quite puzzling.
Second, the book evidences an encyclopedic knowledge about the Abolition movement, but sadly reads like an encyclopedia. In Chapter 5, for example, she talks about the different civil societies freemen founded in the North. The unfortunate structure she chose for this task is to name every society and its founders, and then give a three paragraph description of the lives of each founder. The chapter becomes a long series of minor societies and brief biographies, with little connection or common thread. This is emblematic of the book, which is more a useful compilation of biographies than a cogent history of the topic.
June 11, 2019
There are already plenty of books on the Civil War, so Sinha's narrative spends little time on it. She also quickly dispatches Lincoln, though she sees him as ultimately a genuine anti-slavery hero, influenced by fellow Republicans who were committed abolitionists including Charles Sumner, Salmon Chase and Thaddeus Stevens.
The real value of this book is its look at abolitionists known and unknown. Sinha focuses most on William Lloyd Garrison but gives plenty of ink to white abolitionists including Wendell Phillips as well as African-American abolitionists including Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. She also brings in abolitionists you've never heard of, whether self-liberated slaves, freemen, women both black and white, preachers, native Americans, workers, immigrants, foreigners.
Sinha even draws anti-slavery back to colonial and revolutionary times, showing that abolition started well before Garrison first started publishing the "Liberator" in 1829 but originated in the first resistance to the slave trade in Africa, slave revolts in colonial times and the start of the first anti-slavery society in Pennsylvania in 1775.
As a model for future social movements, it's hard to beat abolition. Sinha's book shows why, though it took nearly a century, the emancipation movement succeeded against great odds and formidable obstacles.
The real value of this book is its look at abolitionists known and unknown. Sinha focuses most on William Lloyd Garrison but gives plenty of ink to white abolitionists including Wendell Phillips as well as African-American abolitionists including Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. She also brings in abolitionists you've never heard of, whether self-liberated slaves, freemen, women both black and white, preachers, native Americans, workers, immigrants, foreigners.
Sinha even draws anti-slavery back to colonial and revolutionary times, showing that abolition started well before Garrison first started publishing the "Liberator" in 1829 but originated in the first resistance to the slave trade in Africa, slave revolts in colonial times and the start of the first anti-slavery society in Pennsylvania in 1775.
As a model for future social movements, it's hard to beat abolition. Sinha's book shows why, though it took nearly a century, the emancipation movement succeeded against great odds and formidable obstacles.
March 17, 2017
A really valuable and substantial contribution to the literature on abolition, that does a great job uniting all the different strains of the movement in one place. In particular, I really appreciate the way Manisha Sinha joins the work of black and white abolitionists, her coverage of colonization, and the portion about the international abolition movement and connections between American abolitionists and anti-imperial activism. This is a valuable corrective to a lot of notions about abolitionism being segregated, out of touch, single-issue, or destructively moralistic--notions which have found their way into textbooks and dominant history. Manisha Sinha has done a tremendous job pushing back against that interpretation and the relevance of the abolitionists to the present moment, and the guidance they provide for different forms of activism, is salient.
It is a super dense book, though, so best if you have read other things on this subject and are looking for a really deep dive, or to keep on hand as a reference book and dip into different parts as needed.
It is a super dense book, though, so best if you have read other things on this subject and are looking for a really deep dive, or to keep on hand as a reference book and dip into different parts as needed.
April 16, 2018
If you are interested in the Abolition movement in US history, Manisha Sinha's
"The Slave's Cause" is your bible! Extremely well written and exhaustive in the period with a scholarly style of writing, yet readable if you're willing to take your time. The introduction alone is some of the best writing out there. This is a big, in-depth book that I will use constantly as a reference guide. The notes are an exhaustive collection of scholarly work you would have to spent much time duplicating on your own.
The best part for me is Manisha's ability to make the past relevant to today's political climate, including today's growing views on the entire slavery, abolition, and race understanding.
"The Slave's Cause" is your bible! Extremely well written and exhaustive in the period with a scholarly style of writing, yet readable if you're willing to take your time. The introduction alone is some of the best writing out there. This is a big, in-depth book that I will use constantly as a reference guide. The notes are an exhaustive collection of scholarly work you would have to spent much time duplicating on your own.
The best part for me is Manisha's ability to make the past relevant to today's political climate, including today's growing views on the entire slavery, abolition, and race understanding.
June 7, 2017
Perfect for anyone studying the end of the american slavery
February 6, 2019
This took a long time to read, but definitely the best survey of the anti-slavery movement out there. I assigned this book for my graduate class on the Civil War and Reconstruction.
February 20, 2020
A true bible of the abolition movement and a must-read for any student of American history.
August 23, 2020
A detailed, 600-page long look at the abolition movement in the US, starting from the pre-Revolutionary War era in the 1700s, to election of Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War in 1860. Overall it is an excellent work of history. The focus tends to be on the intellectual evolution of abolitionism, and how various ideas and goals were discussed and debated; but this is still surrounded by the context of actual practices and events, specifically various acts of unrest, resistance, rebellion, and organizing by enslaved people.
The heavy focus on the evolution of ideas can be rather boring at times; there are only so many pages one can read about the details of this or that debate about suffrage or emigration, without things getting repetitive and your eyes glossing over. There is also a lack of grounding all of this in the wider social and political context of the era; i.e. the relationship between the evolution of abolitionism with, say, the evolution of American capitalism and wider changes happening in economy and society. I personally would have liked to see much less focus on intellectual debates, and more focus on "big-picture" analysis of political economy and how abolitionism as a social movement fit into all that. In general, this book is probably best read if you already have a decent understanding of American politics and history in this era; don't read this book if you are looking for introductory material!
But all this is more than made up for the analysis of the organizing and mobilizing of the abolition movement, and the many amazing stories of how they agitated and undermined the power of the slaveholders, ranging from rebellions of slaves being transported on ships, to the working-class riots against enforcement of the Fugitive Slave laws. The central thesis of the book is that abolitionism was driven by the resistance and actions and ideas of enslaved people themselves, and the book does a powerful job of illustrating this.
The heavy focus on the evolution of ideas can be rather boring at times; there are only so many pages one can read about the details of this or that debate about suffrage or emigration, without things getting repetitive and your eyes glossing over. There is also a lack of grounding all of this in the wider social and political context of the era; i.e. the relationship between the evolution of abolitionism with, say, the evolution of American capitalism and wider changes happening in economy and society. I personally would have liked to see much less focus on intellectual debates, and more focus on "big-picture" analysis of political economy and how abolitionism as a social movement fit into all that. In general, this book is probably best read if you already have a decent understanding of American politics and history in this era; don't read this book if you are looking for introductory material!
But all this is more than made up for the analysis of the organizing and mobilizing of the abolition movement, and the many amazing stories of how they agitated and undermined the power of the slaveholders, ranging from rebellions of slaves being transported on ships, to the working-class riots against enforcement of the Fugitive Slave laws. The central thesis of the book is that abolitionism was driven by the resistance and actions and ideas of enslaved people themselves, and the book does a powerful job of illustrating this.
July 22, 2019
Isto é a história daqueles que nos fizeram verdadeiramente livres.
Ao ler este livro sobre o fim da escravatura nos EUA, tentei perceber como a escravatura foi permitida por uma nação cuja matriz cultural era cristã, uma nação também de valores republicanos, fundada sobre a premissa de que "é auto-evidente que todos os homens são iguais" e que havia o "direito da busca da felicidade".
Mas essas garantias aparentemente não se aplicavam a segmentos da população que, apenas por terem a pele mais castanha, não tinham quaisquer direitos e eram propriedade de alguém. Mesmo nos estados sem escravatura, os negros livres eram raptados e as suas instituições atacadas, e não tinham direito de voto.
É um livro grande e minucioso, com muitas citações dessa época, que descreve os vários movimentos no seio da causa da abolição, e a sua ligação a outras causas. O livro tem uma densidade grande de referências a pessoas, instituições e lugares, o que pode tornar a leitura algo confusa; mas na minha opinião lê-se bem e é recompensador se o leitor tiver paciência.
Ler este livro é ficar marcado pela maldade do ser humano. E saber que há sempre seres humanos dispostos a repudiar leis injustas.
Ao ler este livro sobre o fim da escravatura nos EUA, tentei perceber como a escravatura foi permitida por uma nação cuja matriz cultural era cristã, uma nação também de valores republicanos, fundada sobre a premissa de que "é auto-evidente que todos os homens são iguais" e que havia o "direito da busca da felicidade".
Mas essas garantias aparentemente não se aplicavam a segmentos da população que, apenas por terem a pele mais castanha, não tinham quaisquer direitos e eram propriedade de alguém. Mesmo nos estados sem escravatura, os negros livres eram raptados e as suas instituições atacadas, e não tinham direito de voto.
É um livro grande e minucioso, com muitas citações dessa época, que descreve os vários movimentos no seio da causa da abolição, e a sua ligação a outras causas. O livro tem uma densidade grande de referências a pessoas, instituições e lugares, o que pode tornar a leitura algo confusa; mas na minha opinião lê-se bem e é recompensador se o leitor tiver paciência.
Ler este livro é ficar marcado pela maldade do ser humano. E saber que há sempre seres humanos dispostos a repudiar leis injustas.
August 3, 2023
A newish, sweeping history of abolition in the US. It's very well-researched and makes some important arguments about the abolition movement. It's insightful on the schisms in the movement and methods used to advance the cause. By nature it lacks a single character or organization to focus the narrative on, but Sinha does a good job organizing the book and finding people and events to capture your attention.
Sinha's treatment of the Native American question in the abolition movement leaves a lot to be desired. Settler colonialism is mentioned once or twice, but not adequately incorporated into the sweeping history. One main engine of abolitionist or anti-slavery action was a belief in an all-white West, which was facilitated by native cultural and physical removal. See Lyman Beecher's Plea for the West. Additionally, the last chapter on the last years before the Civil War and the war itself was too short, and sprinted through the critical years of warfare and abolition. Whereas the previous 14 chapters was sweeping in its coverage of abolition and its actors across the world, this chapter was too focused on Abraham Lincoln.
Sinha's treatment of the Native American question in the abolition movement leaves a lot to be desired. Settler colonialism is mentioned once or twice, but not adequately incorporated into the sweeping history. One main engine of abolitionist or anti-slavery action was a belief in an all-white West, which was facilitated by native cultural and physical removal. See Lyman Beecher's Plea for the West. Additionally, the last chapter on the last years before the Civil War and the war itself was too short, and sprinted through the critical years of warfare and abolition. Whereas the previous 14 chapters was sweeping in its coverage of abolition and its actors across the world, this chapter was too focused on Abraham Lincoln.
January 20, 2022
Five starts for pure academic detail and impeccable scholarly research. The sheer number of sources is staggering. The intersections between slave uprisings, runaway narratives, free-black escape networks, and the white people who supported them are now in a better context with all the detail you need to picture the centuries of fighting, killing, dying, and legislating over the institution of slavery.
This is not, however, a riveting, fast-reading page-turner. It is amazing, but be prepared to put in some time. A small fraction of white America helped. Most did nothing. Their silence aided and abetted the continued bondage of other humans. Don't be them when you see injustice. Do something.
This is not, however, a riveting, fast-reading page-turner. It is amazing, but be prepared to put in some time. A small fraction of white America helped. Most did nothing. Their silence aided and abetted the continued bondage of other humans. Don't be them when you see injustice. Do something.
October 5, 2018
The ultimate handbook for the history of "the slave's cause," the abolition movement and its culmination in emancipation. Sinha provides a comprehensive, thorough history of every angle of the movement, most importantly documenting the facts of slave resistance and the influence of fugitive slaves and the black community during the struggle for freedom. I was fascinated to learn of the Quaker origins of branches of the movement and how it became more mainstream as more people - men, women, black, white, powerful and lowly - became engaged in the cause. A must-read for anyone wanting to understand what happened and why it took so long.
October 5, 2021
The entire book is one of the essential texts in this subject area. Of particular note is the section dedicated to Harriet Beecher Stowe, dispelling some of the myths involved with the famed Uncle Tom's Cabin novelist, and helping to answer questions about the sources she used, which were highly called into question when the book came out in 1852. This prompted Stowe and her publisher, John P. Jewett of Boston, to release the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, which left most people continuing to ask this question as the book was mostly a random collection of newspaper advertisements from planters and slaveholders calling for the return of fugitive enslaved people.
October 1, 2017
This is THE book about abolitionism. From beginning to end with all the detail you could possibly find time to read. Her basic premise was that the freed blacks as well as the enslaved themselves were the primary part of the abolition movement. Without their support, thru revolts, runaways, social organizations, passive resistance, economic help, any anti-slavery attempt by the white establishment meant very little to the demise of slavery.
A very tedious read but if you are interested in the subject and want the details, this is the book to read.
A very tedious read but if you are interested in the subject and want the details, this is the book to read.
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