|
Beecher family (Lyman – seated
3rd from left; Harriet – 5th from left)
Originally from the Ohio Historical
Society
|
|
Cincinnati was a hotbed of abolitionist
thought and action. Lane Seminary, headed by Lyman Beecher, had by
the time Blanchard arrived worked through a difficult battle with Asa Mahan.
Mahan, a trustee at Lane, left in 1835 with a contingent of students to
head the struggling Oberlin College after students had been restricted in
their abolitionist speech and activities at Lane. Mahan had been the
only trustee to vote against those restrictions. The cultural and moral
struggles in the North and South over slavery were heightened in the border
city of Cincinnati and were reflected in the seminary. By the time
that Blanchard enrolled the “gag” rule had been lifted.
|