Before coming to Tuesday’s class, please closely read the articles by Huston and Yannielli listed on the schedule, as well as the additional article (by Stewart, Abzug, or Hershberger) that you were assigned today in class.

On Tuesday, we will talk a little bit about the mechanics of a history article–how it is put together, how an historian makes an argument and establishes the significance of his/her research. So as you read all these articles, pay attention to how and when the author references work by other historians. Note places where the author introduces evidence from primary sources to support the thesis. And especially make note of where the author lays out the major point he or she wants to make.

All of these articles deal with the question that we grappled with in our first week together: what would cause a person or group of people to demand the immediate end of slavery–an extremely profitable institution that most white people accepted and that had been around since the beginning of recorded human history? As you read, think about these questions, and then choose one of them to respond to in your comment for this week by clicking on “Leave a Reply” at the end of this post.

1. James Huston argues that the experience of witnessing slavery’s operations was the crucial factor in the origins of abolitionist commitment. Is that generalization supported by the particular life stories of the characters in your other assigned articles? Does Huston’s case for the “experiential basis” of abolitionism account for immediatists better or worse than the other bases (economic, emulation of other movements, evangelical, etc.) that we discussed in class?
2. Is Huston’s argument incompatible with the arguments of either of the other two articles you read? Why or why not?
3. Based on specific examples drawn from the readings, do you think attention to broader Northern cultural shifts is necessary to explain the stories of particular abolitionists? Why or why not? And which cultural shifts in the broader environment seem to have been most important to the person(s) profiled in your non-Huston articles?
4. On page 12, Huston notes that some historians have found “troublesome” or even “retrograde” beliefs and behaviors among the abolitionists? Is this true of the abolitionists you read about in the other articles? Were there specific aspects of the immediatists you met that surprised or troubled you?

Remember, you should think about all of these questions, and also make note of the major turning points and parts of the articles; we want to think both about what they are saying and how about how they say it, since you will be producing works of historical scholarship this semester, too. For your blog comment, however, you only need to address one of the questions above by noon on Tuesday, January 16.