{"id":667,"date":"2018-10-24T13:50:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T13:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/slavery\/?page_id=667"},"modified":"2018-11-22T13:58:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T13:58:20","slug":"john-creswell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/slavery\/people\/john-creswell\/","title":{"rendered":"John Creswell"},"content":{"rendered":"
PUBLIC MEMORY AT DICKINSON<\/strong><\/header>\n
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\"Creswell\"There is no building or other monument to John Creswell, an important anti-slavery politician from Maryland, but in recent years, he has become the subject of some special attention from historians and librarians on campus.  In 2015, for example, the House Divided Project launched an e-book series around Creswell’s story, labeling him as a “Forgotten Abolitionist.”<\/p>\n

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BRIEF PROFILE<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

John Creswell entered the Civil War with no discernible antislavery history at all. He was a son of the slaveholding South, a native of Maryland who had been a Democrat and conservative businessman before the war.  Creswell did not speak out against the peculiar institution until deep into the secession conflict and under the pressure of wartime necessity. Yet he became one of the most pivotal abolitionists in the country. In 1864, Creswell helped secure passage of an antislavery constitution in Maryland, the first (and only) popular vote for abolition in any U.S. state. He also led off the final congressional debates for the Thirteenth Amendment in January 1865, with an eloquent address that showcased the changing times. Nor did Creswell stop with this newfound embrace of freedom. After the war, the Marylander also became an unlikely advocate for equality of opportunity. While serving as a Postmaster General during the Grant Administration, Creswell helped to integrate and modernize the federal post office system. He had truly become a man of the future. None of this could have been predicted when Creswell attended Dickinson College in the late 1840s.<\/p>\n

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FURTHER READING<\/strong><\/h6>\n