Expecting the Impossible? Abolitionist Appeals to the Irish in Antebellum America

Abstract

When examining the divide that existed between Irish immigrants and abolitionists in the antebellum era, some historians have blamed the abolitionists, accusing them of harboring anti-Catholic views. In reality, William Lloyd Garrison and most antislavery stalwarts were well disposed toward Irish Catholics and made several attempts to reach out to them in the 1830s and '40s.