ABSTRACT
The stench rising from the Dock Creek industrial district in Philadelphia had become so intolerable by 1739 that residents petitioned the colonial government—the Pennsylvania Assembly—to evict the leather tanneries and their waste pits from the city. The petitioners held that, in processing animal skins and disgorging offal into Dock Creek, nearby slaughterhouses not only spewed foul odors, but also lowered property values, impeded commerce, and exposed residents to disease. The anti-slavery movement bequeathed philosophies and methods of organizing to subsequent movements. Abolitionism directly influenced the Transcendentalists and was thereby critical to both the spiritual and practical foundations of conservationism. The social upheaval of the Civil War disrupted relationships to the land, restricted food sources, and increased the burden of disease, leading to a strong push for what was then termed sanitary reform. The war “produced the largest biological crisis of nineteenth century,” medical historian Jim Downs has noted. More soldiers died or were injured due to illness than from warfare.
