The end of slavery came thanks - in part - to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. At the Civil War's conclusion, the abolitionist movement had finally achieved its most sacred goal. But in, "The Republic of Violence: The Tormented Rise of Abolition in Andrew Jackson's America," JD Dickey argues that movement gained momentum decades before, during the 1830s, as abolitionists were violently confronted by the pro-slavery movement. 

In both north and south, Dickey argues white supremacists stopped at nothing to prevent abolitionists from having their voices heard. He catalogues America's most violent period, with riots so commonplace, they seemed to blend into one another. He describes the lives of the abolition movement's foot soldiers and how they came to blows with followers of Andrew Jackson. Dickey argues Jackson deliberately inspired violence to tamp down those who argued America's slaves should be freed.

Dickey's website is jddickey.com

He is on social media at twitter.com/empire_of_mud

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