Light of Nature and the Law of God: Antislavery in Ontario, 1833-1877

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McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, Jun 1, 1992 - History - 286 pages
Allen Stouffer's analysis of Ontario's response to the freedmen reveals a virulent strain of racism that helps to explain why British North Americans were slow to join their British and American counterparts in the North Atlantic antislavery triangle. After exploring the Canadian churches' mixed reaction to antislavery, he applies cliometrics to draw a socio-economic profile of Canadian antislavery's leaders and followers. Employing British, American, and Canadian primary sources, Stouffer has written this study the first book-length examination of Canadian antislavery from a British North American perspective. Earlier studies concluded that Canadian anti-slavery was largely the result of Canada's proximity to the United States, a proximity which precluded Canada's ignoring the situation. While Stouffer recognizes the importance of the American influence, he shows that the leaders of Canadian anti-slavery were immigrants from Britain who had been deeply involved in antislavery in their homeland.
 

Contents

Introduction
3
1 The Loyalists and Slavery
7
The British Connection
19
3 Helping the Lord against the Mighty
43
4 A Feeble Voice from the Backwoods of Canada
58
5 Land an Interest in the Soil and a Christian Education
82
Illustrations
107
6 Educating the Public
108
7 The Church and Antislavery
142
8 A Question of Identity
171
9 Ontario and the Freedman
190
10 Retrospect
215
Notes
221
Bibliography
245
Index
265
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