Award Date

12-1-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Committee Member

Michael Green

Second Committee Member

Elizabeth Nelson

Third Committee Member

Deirdre Clemente

Fourth Committee Member

Gregory Borchard

Number of Pages

143

Abstract

The United States capital, Washington, D.C., became the focus of antislavery advocates in their quest to eliminate the domestic slave trade and slavery. By the War of 1812, the domestic slave trade was thriving in the capital. However, many saw it as particularly embarrassing to a nation predicated on the concept of freedom. This embarrassment was even felt by proslavery Southerners. Beginning in 1816, an attempt to restrict the trade in the Capital occurred when Virginia Congressman John Randolph called for the destruction of the domestic slave trade there. Despite being proslavery, he argued that the federal government, as the governing body of the District of Columbia, had the right to regulate slavery within it. This opened an opportunity for antislavery advocates to target the nation’s capital in their pursuit of eliminating the domestic slave trade and bring about an end to slavery. Between 1822 and 1829 antislavery advocates petitioned Congress numerous times to end the domestic slave trade and slavery in the capital. They also recruited antislavery allies within Congress to advocate their petitions. The nation’s newspapers covered these attempts and antislavery advocates found them essential in disseminating their message. These attacks on slavery in the capital forced proslavery Southerners in Congress to block efforts at ending the domestic slave trade and slavery in the capital out of fear that they could open the door to ending slavery in the South. Furthermore, they began to develop a positive good argument for slavery as a way to protect the institution from rising antislavery sentiment. These efforts did not succeed in ending either the domestic slave trade or slavery during the 1820s, but it helped to turn antislavery sentiment into a movement.

Keywords

Abolition; Congress; Debate; Law; Slavery

Disciplines

United States History

File Format

pdf

File Size

1600 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/


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