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45Results for "political-thought"
Stories
A Moment in Nassau Hall
by Gary Nash | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
In 1783, four somberly dressed men rode into town to petition Congress: End slavery.
The KKK and Princeton's 1955 Emmett Till Petition
by Ellen Li | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
When three Princeton students organized a petition protesting the acquittal of Emmett Till’s murderers in 1955, classmates dressed in KKK robes threatened their lives. Though the campus newspaper and Princeton administration characterized the incident as a “prank,” the event revealed deep divisions on campus over issues of racial justice.
Stephen Alexander and Alfred Scudder
by Midori Kawaue | Antebellum (1820-1861), Civil War (1861-1865)
Stephen Alexander, Princeton’s first astronomy professor, held moderate antislavery views but denied the equality of Black and white Americans. At the same time, he may have employed an African American man named Alfred Scudder as an assistant on campus.
Presbyterians and Slavery
by James Moorhead | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
A truly national denomination from the 18th century to the Civil War, American Presbyterianism encompassed a wide range of viewpoints on slavery. Prominent leaders in the church were slaveholders, moderate antislavery advocates, and abolitionists.
Henry Kollock
by Jessica R. Mack | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Henry Kollock (1778-1819) was a Princeton professor, pastor, and slave owner. He appeared in the first fugitive slave narrative: Life of William Grimes, a Runaway Slave.
Primary Sources
"An Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion"
[1787] 1810 | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Samuel Stanhope Smith's "Essay on the Cause of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species," originally published in 1787.
"The Early Bootlick Gets the Grade"
1860 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Excerpt from an 1860 play mocking an abolitionist, published in the Nassau Rake.
"An Address Delivered before the American Whig and Cliosophic Societies"
September 27, 1836 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Address delivered by John M. Scott at the annual commencement in 1836.
"On the Relation of Master and Servant"
1812 | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
"On the Relation of Master and Servant," a lecture delivered by President Samuel Stanhope Smith at the College of New Jersey.
"A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin"
1853 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Excerpt from Harriet Beecher Stowe's book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in one year after the original novel.