The Anti-Slavery Impulse: 1830-1844. (First edition)


Drawing on primary sources from outside New England, Barnes argues that the antislavery movement began around 1830 as a grassroots religious crusade rather than a top-down reform. Though briefly institutionalized through formal organizations, it soon expanded into a broader sectional protest that deepened North–South divisions. Rejecting the established abolitionist narrative, Barnes re-frames the 1830s as a decisive and formative phase in American antislavery history, not merely a prelude. This first edition, quite scarce, appeared in 1933, marking the centennial of both the abolition of slavery in the West Indies and the founding of the American Anti-Slavery Society.


Description: The Anti-Slavery Impulse: 1830-1844. (First edition)

New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Company, (1933). Octavo. 298 pages. Original publisher’s dark blue cloth; without its scarce dust jacket. Provenance: from the library of author and historian Frederick B. Tolles, with his name neatly inscribed in ink on the front free endpaper. A very good copy.

[3735106]

Price: $85.00