The London Emancipation Society and Transatlantic Abolitionism in the Civil War Era, 1859–1865

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the activism of the London Emancipation Society (LES), a British anti-slavery organization initially established as the London Emancipation Committee in 1859 on the eve of the American Civil War. Scholars have long argued that the once-flourishing transatlantic abolitionist ties of earlier decades began to wane during the Civil War period. This article challenges that interpretation through an investigation of the LES and its key members. The article argues that transatlantic abolitionism did not wane during this period; rather, it was transformed by a new, cosmopolitan-minded generation of British abolitionists who nurtured existing as well as new ties across the Atlantic.