| | The Black Abolitionist Papers: Vol. II: Canada, 1830-1865, Edited by C. Peter Ripley. Introduction. (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) |
 | | Abolitionists in the United States, Canada, and the British Isles came to view fl life in the provinces as a test of proslavery racial theories which held that fls were inherently inferior, unfit for freedom, incapable of entering society, and therefore best left in bondage. |
 | | Abolitionists reasoned that fl success in Canada—where slavery was absent and prejudice was milder—would demonstrate fl readiness for freedom, refute proslavery theories, and thereby achieve a critical victory in the struggle to free the slaves. |
 | | Canada was the northern terminus of the underground railroad—a historical phenomenon that abolitionists and southern propagandists alike mythologized into a highly complex, secret network that sent agents into the slave states to spirit thousands of bondsmen north to freedom. |
| www.uncpress.unc.edu /chapters/ripley_black2.html (16367 words) |