The 1800’s were an important time in American history. The United States was growing in size, purchasing new lands from other countries, and expanding their boarders westward. As the nation grew so did the technologies and industries that were already in place. One of the industries that had a predominant role in the American economy and was still thriving in the mid 1800’s was the cotton industry. In fact the cotton industry was the basis in which the current economy was founded upon and contributed to a majority of the nations wealth. However, the booming industry came with a dark reality. African Americans had been continuously enslaved for over a hundred years since the birth of the Americas. They lived in unbearable conditions and were treated as property and seen as tools of farming rather than being seen as they humans they truly were. Their lives were exploited by greedy plantation owners, especially in the southern states, that used their labor in order to boom their cotton and other agriculture industries in order to achieve max production and profits (1). However, uprisings and organizations against slavery were sprouting all over the country, not only by the slaves themselves, but white men and women who disagreed with the intolerant acts executed by plantation owners on slaves as well (2). This image demonstrates a rally in which an anti-slavery meeting was held in Boston Massachusetts against the horrors of slavery and as a voice for the independence of the enslaved men and women. The sketch (while the artist is unknown) displays a man by the name of Mr. Phillips speaking in front of a crowd of majority white men and women opposing the Fugitive Slave Act that had recently been passed which detailed that all slaves be returned to their owners regardless of if they were previously freed or not (2). Massachusetts at the time was one of the only states in which freed African Americans could have a sense of security as the laws of the state protected them and they were able to have a sense of identity in a welcoming community (3). The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act essentially removed all of this protection. Because of this many Massachusetts residents began to fight against this law. There were groups such as the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, led by William Lloyd Garrison, who started the abolition of slavery movement by creating anti-slavery events similar to the one seen in this sketch (4). They opposed slave owners in the south, used moral suasion, political action, and physical aid to protect free and runaway slaves as well (4). This sketch displays a powerful image of an example of a group like the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society protesting slavery and promoting the abolition of it. It shows the morals of many people in America at the time. Tens to hundreds of people, as seen in the image, would come out to these meetings in hopes to create action to abolish slavery. In this picture it appears that the majority of the people at the meeting are well dressed, which may indicate a wealthier status. In the south white people of high status usually were owners of slaves or had ties to slavery in a certain way or another for their success. Here in the north that was not the case. Instead the men and women of a wealthier status were doing the opposite seeking change and protection for slaves instead of using them as objects of work which indicates the difference in values of men and women in the North and South in America at this period of time. America was becoming divided and the topic of slavery was a major issue causing this and tensions between the North and the South were brewing (1). Because of the individuals such as the ones in the sketch and those from the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery society, the abolition of slavery was gaining the attention it needed and a hard opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act was seen, creating the start of a nation changing rebellion finally giving the true freedom that enslaved African Americans deserved.

1. David Shi, America: A Narrative History, brief 12th edition, volume 1, ISBN ISBN 978-0393882537.
2.Pease, Jane H., and William H. Pease. “Confrontation and Abolition in the 1850s.” The Journal of American History 58, no. 4 (1972): 923–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/1917851.
3. Schwartz, Harold. “Fugitive Slave Days in Boston.” The New England Quarterly 27, no. 2 (1954): 191–212. https://doi.org/10.2307/362803.
4. Brooks, Elaine. “Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.” The Journal of Negro History 30, no. 3 (1945): 311–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/2715115.