Abolition in the United States, like in Great Britain, had religious inspirations. Some of the first and most outspoken abolitionists were members of the religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. Benjamin Lay addressed the Yearly meeting of Quakers on the subject of abolishing slavery as early as 1738. Quakers continued their support for abolition throughout the nineteenth century, an example found prominently in Thomas Garrett, a Quaker merchant who helped countless escaped slaves to freedom as a “stationmaster” on the Underground Railroad. In Great Britain, evangelical Anglicans John Newton, Thomas Clarkson among others pressured Parliament for the abandonment of the slave trade. Abolitionism on both sides of the Atlantic carried a religious dimension that should not be ignored in any study of the movement.

In his blog, “Underground Railroad: Myth & Reality,” Fergus Bordewich explores the religious roots of the antislavery movement. Bordewich points to the Great Awakening as a main catalyst for growth of antislavery sentiment.

The National Humanities Center presents an essay on the topic of religion and antislavery movements as well. The essay by Bertram Wyatt-Brown goes into greater detail than Bordewich’s blog post, includes a classroom discussion guide, and a brief bibliography. Wyatt-Brown writes with a teacher audience in mind. The essay serves as much to introduce and explore the connection between abolition and religion as to provoke discussion and provide teacher resources. Certainly a worthwhile resource.

Wyatt-Brown’s essay is part of a larger TeacherServe webpage provided by the National Humanities Center. Additional essays on religion in America are provided, along with essays and materials exploring the environment in American history, and teaching African American history.

If your class is going to study the Underground Railroad, one website you should check out is Documenting the American South (DocSouth). The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has put together a great collection of primary sources, including slave narratives published before 1920. To see a list of what they have available, go here. Besides the full text of books, DocSouth has great supplementary material for almost every title. On Frederick Douglass, for example, the site provides a short biography and related primary sources. While students may be familiar with Douglass or Harriet Tubman, they can find on DocSouth many new interesting stories from fugitive slaves like Solomon Northup and William Wells Brown.

I found Levi Coffin, a leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana, as I was going through the database today and the role that he played in the Underground Railroad.  Upon further research I found this great website created by Wayne County.  There are several pictures of the Levi Coffin House and where the Coffins used to hide the thousands of slaves that came through Indiana on their way to Canada.  The site includes several links to other sites about Levi Coffin and other Underground Railroad characters.  One link I thought was very useful was to K-12 Lesson Plan link.

In the summer of 1863, the town of Carlisle, PA became the one of the northern-most posts of the Confederate Army.  An account of the occupation of Carlisle during the Battle of Gettysburg by Richard Edling appears on civilwaralbum.com.  145 years ago this week, Dickinson College became host to General Ewell’s troops.  Edling provides modern day pictures of the Civil War sites in Carlisle.  Check out House Divided for images of Dickinson College from the Civil War.

I was searching the Brady-Handy Collection on the Library of Congress website and found an interesting picture of Washington D.C. that I wanted to highlight. You can see the Trinity Episcopal church with the US Capital in the background. To see the full image, go here. Seven other images are available in that collection, including one of Lincoln’s funeral.

I want to point out an article that the Chicago Press & Tribune published on July 1, 1858. Almost two months before the first 1858 debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the Tribune provided an account of the exchange between those two Illinois politicians in October 1854. Even though the Tribune described the event “from memory,” some might still find the article an interesting read.

At CivilWar.com there is some pretty cool features like this interactive map thhat shows where battles occurred during the Civil War.  I am not sure how reliable a lot of the information is, but there is an Archives that has a list of more than 100 online resources for topics related to the Civil War.  While CivilWar.com might not be that useful, the list of other sites is a quick and easy way to find other sources relating to the Civil War.

The Atlantic’s archive also has selected full text articles published between 1857 and November 1995. While a number of interesting articles are available, I wanted to point out one from the October 1860 issue. A month before the November 1860 election, James Russell Lowell discussed the four candidates and potential outcomes. Lowell realized that “this election [was] a turning-point in our history” because “[even though] there [were] four candidates, there [were] really…two parties, and a single question that divides them.” While many Americans were concerned about a Republican victory, Lowell concluded that Abraham Lincoln “[had] proved both his ability and his integrity” and his party “[had] no hostility to the South.” While thisarticle is a long one, some might be able to use it in their classes.

CivilWarHome.com is a great site with a ton of information on life during the civil war. Their main page is separated in several categories including Medicine, Biographies, and Essays each with numerous links and descriptions for subcategories.

If you have not visited the Atlantic magazine’s website, you might want to take a look at the free archive of articles published after November 1995. I have not had a chance to look through everything, but I wanted to point out two articles that could be used as a way to start a discussion in class about Abraham Lincoln. Garry Wills discusses President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address in “Lincoln’s Greatest Speech?” (Sept. 1999) while Joshua Wolf Shenk, in “Lincoln’s Great Depression” (Oct. 2005), describes Lincoln in a way that may surprise some students.  Shenk also discusses his conclusions about Lincoln in an interview.