Category: Antislavery Politician Page 2 of 3

Ellis Gray Loring (1803-1858) was an antislavery lawyer in Massachusetts.

ESSAYS: Sinha

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

Owen Lovejoy (1811-1864) was an antislavery congressman from Illinois who sheltered freedom seekers in his home.

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

Lord Mansfield was an English judge who decided the 1772 Somerset case, in which he ruled that slavery was “so odious” and contrary to natural law that it could only exist where positive laws protected it.

ESSAYS: Barker

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

William Hamilton Merritt was a legislator in the Assembly of Upper Canada.

ESSAYS: Barker

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

John Beverley Robinson served as the chief justice of Upper Canada. In 1819, Robinson refused to extradite freedom seekers back to the United States, citing the 1772 Somerset decision.

ESSAYS: Barker

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

William Henry Seward (1801-1872) was an antislavery politician who served as New York governor (1838-42), US senator from New York (1849-61),  and US secretary of state (1861-69).

ESSAYS: Baker // Oakes // Sinha

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

William Seward, c. 1845 (House Divided Project)

Lemuel Shaw (1781-1861) was a Massachusetts Supreme Court chief justice who denied slaveholders the right of transit through the state.

ESSAYS: Sinha

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

John Graves Simcoe served as the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada and spearheaded the push to adopt gradual abolition in the province in 1793.

ESSAYS: Barker

ROLES: Antislavery Politician

Charles Sumner was a US senator from Massachusetts and antislavery politician.

ESSAYS: Harrold

ROLES: Antislavery Politician