The Abolitionists

Hume, John F. (John Ferguson), 1830-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 333K words
Chapters: 34

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Abolitionists by John F. HumeAuthor: Hume, John F. (John Ferguson), 1830-,Language: English, Class: E300: History: America: Revolution to the Civil War (1783-1861), Release Date: Aug 13, 2004

Editor's review

This book is John F. Hume's historical account of the American abolitionist movement, classified among historical works on the period from the American Revolution to the eve of the Civil War and released by Project Gutenberg as a free e-book. The author, born in 1830, writes with the immediacy of lived experience and a pronounced partisan stance; the book focuses on the figures and actions of the abolitionist circle and stands as one of the primary sources for understanding nineteenth-century American slavery controversies and reform movements. For readers studying American history, the history of social movements, or the roots of civil rights issues, it offers the value of a first-hand perspective, though its narrative is inevitably shaped by the author's stance and the limitations of his era and should not be treated as a neutral, comprehensive history. It is best read alongside later scholarship, with attention to the selection of sources and the tendencies of judgment. As a public-domain e-book, the text contains no modern annotations or maps; readers should bring their own background knowledge of nineteenth-century American political geography in order to follow the sequence of events and the relationships among figures.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and scholars of nineteenth-century American history and the abolitionist movement
General history readers interested in the history of social reform movements
American history enthusiasts seeking primary-source English materials
Readers curious about the origins of civil rights issues

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a neutral, comprehensive history of the United States
Readers with limited English proficiency who need Chinese annotations
Readers expecting contemporary scholarly analysis and discussion of historiographical method

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself with the political background of the United States from 1783 to 1861 before entering the main text to reduce comprehension difficulties.
Note the author's evaluative language as you read, and examine his stance and selection of sources.
Read alongside a modern work of American history to check differences in facts and interpretation.
Take notes by figure or event to compensate for the book's lack of an index and annotations.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is the narrative stance of this book neutral?

Hume himself was closely connected to the historical context of the abolitionist cause, and his narrative carries a clear stance and emotional coloring. It is better suited as a first-hand perspective source than as a neutral general history, and is best read in comparison with later scholarship.

What background knowledge is needed before reading?

It is best to first understand the political landscape of the United States from the War of Independence to the eve of the Civil War, the controversies over slavery and related legislation, and the basic facts about the leading abolitionist figures; this will make it easier to grasp the relationships among the events and figures in the book.

Does the e-book edition include annotations and maps?

The Project Gutenberg edition consists mainly of public-domain text and generally does not include modern scholarly annotations, chronological tables of figures, or maps. Readers may prepare their own historical maps of the United States and reference works to aid understanding of geographical and chronological details.

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About the author

Hume, John F. (John Ferguson), 1830- Author · American · 1830

John F. Hume (born 1830) was an American participant in the abolitionist movement and a writer. Public information about his life is limited, and only one work by him is held in the collection, The Abolitionists. This work recounts the course of the American abolitionist struggle in memoir form, drawing on his own experiences and observations and bearing a clear mark of its era and a personal perspective. His writing is chiefly documentary, plain in language, and concerned with preserving the deeds of movement participants and the social atmosphere of the time, offering later readers a first-hand account of nineteenth-century American abolitionism. Although Hume is not a widely known author and his output is small, such participant accounts have a distinctive value at the historical-source level and are often used to supplement official histories with details and feelings.