{"id":5112,"date":"2026-01-08T21:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/?page_id=5112"},"modified":"2026-03-19T01:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:10:56","slug":"american-voices-1850s","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/course-syllabus\/american-voices-1850s\/","title":{"rendered":"American Voices: 1850s"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>TEXT:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/texts\/sojourner-truth-i-am-a-womans-rights-1851\/\">Truth, \u201cI Am a Woman\u2019s Rights\u201d (1851)<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Short speech delivered by Truth at a Woman\u2019s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio and transcribed by Marius Robinson for the abolitionist newspaper,\u00a0<em>Anti-Slavery Bugle<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A different version of this speech appeared in 1863 with a refrain that now has become famous:\u00a0 \u201cArn\u2019t [or Ain\u2019t] I A Woman?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The woman&#8217;s rights convention at Akron built on a tradition launched in 1848 at Seneca Falls, NY, where delegates adopted a <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/texts\/declaration-of-sentiments-1848\/\">Declaration of Sentiments<\/a> drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_398\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-398\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/files\/2025\/08\/Truth.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-398\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/files\/2025\/08\/Truth.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/files\/2025\/08\/Truth.jpg 580w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/files\/2025\/08\/Truth-186x300.jpg 186w\" alt=\"Truth\" width=\"580\" height=\"938\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-398\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sojourner Truth used to sell this carte de visite (CDV) in 1864 and beyond (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/art\/collection\/search\/301989\">MET Museum<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/texts\/frederick-douglass-fifth-of-july-speech-1852\/\">Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July Speech (1852)<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2680\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2680\"><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2024\/07\/Frederick-Douglass.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2680 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2024\/07\/Frederick-Douglass-217x300.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2024\/07\/Frederick-Douglass-217x300.png 217w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2024\/07\/Frederick-Douglass-739x1024.png 739w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2024\/07\/Frederick-Douglass-768x1064.png 768w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2024\/07\/Frederick-Douglass.png 1024w\" alt=\"Photo of Douglass 1852\" width=\"217\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2680\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Douglass in 1852 (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F#\/media\/File:Frederick_Douglass_by_Samuel_J_Miller,_1847-52.png\">Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Frederick Douglass, delivered this speech, sometimes called, \u201cWhat to the Slave is the Fourth of July?\u201d or the Fifth of July speech, on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York.\u00a0 The speech, delivered to a local antislavery women\u2019s group, began with a sympathetic account of the American Revolution and its great promise for freedom but then pivoted to a second half (partially excerpted below) which detailed the gross hypocrisy of American enslavement on the legacy of that freedom struggle.\u00a0 Many historians consider this effort to be Douglass\u2019s finest oration, and arguably one of the most powerful American political speeches ever written.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SOURCE FORMAT:\u00a0 Public speech\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Fugitive Slave Law (1793 \/ 1850)<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_1464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/files\/2015\/06\/HD_EffectofFugitiveSlaveLaw.preview.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1464\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/files\/2015\/06\/HD_EffectofFugitiveSlaveLaw.preview.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/files\/2015\/06\/HD_EffectofFugitiveSlaveLaw.preview.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/files\/2015\/06\/HD_EffectofFugitiveSlaveLaw.preview-300x202.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Fugitive Slave Law\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1464\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1464\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Effects of Fugitive Law (1850)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Three Rs of fugitive code:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Recaption<\/li>\n<li>Rendition<\/li>\n<li>Resistance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>UGRR Statistical Gateway<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Enslaved population in 1840: roughly 2 million<\/li>\n<li>Enslaved population in 1860: roughly 4 million<\/li>\n<li>Estimated number of antebellum slave sale transactions: 2 million<\/li>\n<li>Ratio of antebellum slave marriages broken apart by sale: \u00bc<\/li>\n<li>Annual temporary escapes from slavery (\u201claying out\u201d): 100,000<\/li>\n<li>Annual attempts at permanent escapes from slavery: 1,000<\/li>\n<li>Documented recaption (kidnapping) efforts across North during 1850s: 150<\/li>\n<li>Documented individual fugitive rendition cases\u00a0between 1850-1861: \u00a0200<\/li>\n<li>Total number of formal federal rendition hearings between 1850-1861: \u00a0125<\/li>\n<li>Number of rendition hearings in New England states after 1854: \u00a00<\/li>\n<li>Percentage of nation\u2019s rendition hearings held in Ohio 1855-1861: 75<\/li>\n<li>Vigilance committee records for successful escapes during 1850s:\u00a0 3,000+<\/li>\n<li>Documented vigilance-led resistance efforts during 1850s: \u00a080<\/li>\n<li>Total casualties from antebellum resistance efforts: \u00a0100s<\/li>\n<li>Number of UGRR operatives killed in free states: 0<\/li>\n<li>Number of freedom seekers killed in free states:\u00a0 1<\/li>\n<li>Number of slaveholders or slave catchers killed in free states:\u00a0 3<\/li>\n<li>Number of UGRR operatives fined or imprisoned in free states: \u00a0about 10-12<\/li>\n<li>People imprisoned for slave-stealing in South, 1840s-50s: 200+<\/li>\n<li>Longest sentence issued for UGRR conviction under federal law: \u00a03 months<\/li>\n<li>Longest imprisonment for UGRR operative in a slave state: \u00a017 years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TEXT:\u00a0\u00a0Truth, \u201cI Am a Woman\u2019s Rights\u201d (1851) Short speech delivered by Truth at a Woman\u2019s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio and transcribed by Marius Robinson for the abolitionist newspaper,\u00a0Anti-Slavery Bugle A different version of this speech appeared in 1863 with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/course-syllabus\/american-voices-1850s\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-5112","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5112"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5229,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5112\/revisions\/5229"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}