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9Results for "October 21, 1836"
Stories
Princeton Academies and Slavery
by Zena Kesselman | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Local academies in Princeton helped maintain the relationship between the College of New Jersey and the South.
White Supremacy at the Commencement of 1836
by Joseph Yannielli | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Princeton student Thomas Ancrum attacked Black abolitionist minister Theodore Wright during the commencement of 1836. The incident exposed the commitment to white supremacy among college students and officials.
Princeton Students Attempt to Lynch an Abolitionist
by Joseph Yannielli | Antebellum (1820-1861)
In September 1835, a crowd of students descended on Princeton’s African American neighborhood to apprehend an abolitionist. The assault underscored the presence on campus of a large number of students committed to slavery and white supremacy.
James Madison
by Paris Amanda Spies-Gans | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
James Madison, Princeton alumnus and fourth President of the United States, held contradictory views on slavery throughout his life—arguing that slavery was incompatible with Revolutionary principles even as he owned over one hundred slaves on his Virginia plantation, brought enslaved people to the White House, and ultimately sold them for personal profit.
Princeton and Abolition
by Joseph Yannielli | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861), Civil War (1861-1865)
Princeton’s faculty and students actively opposed abolition, creating a climate of fear and intimidation around the subject during the 19th century. Although some Princeton affiliates were critical of slavery, the institution demonstrated a catastrophic failure of leadership on the greatest moral question of the age.
Primary Sources
Edgehill Advertisement
October 21, 1836 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
An endorsement for Edgehill school printed in a Natchez newspaper.

