ABSTRACT
The proslavery reaction that began during the last decades of the eighteenth century lasted well into the nineteenth century. It provided the context for the more racially integrated, comprehensive, and aggressive northern antislavery movement that emerged during the late 1820s and early 1830s. As gradual abolition societies withered in a country increasingly polarized by race, a new generation of black and white abolitionists urged masters immediately to emancipate their slaves on the basis of Christian morality, self-interest, and national salvation.
