ABOLITIONISTS

name of party in the United States who demanded the abolition of slavery. Although many individuals had held opinions hostile ‘to slavery, especially among the Quakers, it was not until 1774 that Benjamin Franklin presided over their first congre in Philadelphia. Towards the end of the third decade of the nineteenth century the movement against slavery began to make great headway, and in 1831 one of its chief leaders, William Lloyd. Garrison (q.v.), began to pub. its organ, the Liberator, in Boston. The New England Anti-Slavery Society formed in 1832, became the nucleus of the great political party which influenced and finally (1856) merged with the republican party. The feeling against the A. was naturally very strong in the S. or slave-owning states, the legislature of Georgia even going the length of offering a reward of $5000 to any one _ who could secure the conviction of Garrison. Even in his own city of Boston, Garrison was severely handled by the mob. No doubt much of the unpopularity incurred by the A. was due to the practical a istance rendered to runaway slaves by an organization called the ‘Underground Railway.’ The A. ideals finally triumphed when President Lin-._coln proclaimed the freedom of the slaves on January 1, 1863.