Welcome to another episode of Inside the Cover.

Tonight's book is The Republic of Violence by J.D.

Dickey.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

J.D.

Dickey has been writing books for 20 years.

The Republic of Violence is subtitled The Tormented Rise of Abolition in Andrew Jackson's America and it was copyrighted in 2022.

I finished the book on November 4th, 2024.

As Dickey writes, ‘this book focuses on the period 1833 to 1838, with the abolition movement trying to gain a foothold in the shadow of the hostile administration of Andrew Jackson.

The eight years of the Andrew Jackson presidency would be marked by both the rise of a inter-racial abolition movement and some of the worst violence the nation has ever seen, often directed against that movement.

This era featured the greatest concentration of rioting in American history, with more than 50 major incidents of rioting i two years alone, 1834 and 1835.

Before the Civil War, more than 1000 people died in riots, with untold property damage to homes, churches, schools and civic institutions.

Just briefly and on this matter, I also recommend Tulsa 1921, written by Randy Krehbiel.

By the way, in a recent program here on Inside the Cover, I reviewed Presidential Greatness, written by Mark Landy and Sidney M. Milkis, a book where the authors had placed Jackson as one of the top five presidents.

After reading Dickeys book, I'm not so certain.

I recently finished Life o the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

In 1883, Twain wrote: ‘We have gotten over the harm done to us by the War of 1812, but not over some of those done us by Jackson's presidency.

Once again underlining the value and importance of reading multiple authors for differing perspectives.

There were a number of people who were significantly involved in the abolition movement.

William Lloyd Garrison gave Black Americans a new and strident voic in his newspaper, The Liberator.

Garrison didn't just use African Americans as symbols.

He published their work in his newspaper.

Sarah Forten, the daughter of James and Charlotte, published poetry anonymously under the name of Ada.

David Ruggles put his energies in a different direction.

He was an African American author, bookseller, and newspaper agen who maintained a wide network of supporters across the movement, regardless of their ideology.

Angela Grimke was a Quaker and former slave holder who achieved a striking rise as a speaker on slavery, racial justice, and women's rights.

Arthur and Lewis Tappan were brothers and white men who operated as silk merchants from a shop in the Mercantile District of New York, and they generously funded the abolition movement as a part of their social and evangelical Christianity.

Theodore Weld was known as ‘the most mobbed man in America.

He taught field agents to evangelize for abolition throughout the northeast.

Lucretia Mott was a Quaker reformer and minister who questioned the elders in her church about their indifference to abolition and she pushed for social change even at the risk of being shunned.

Samuel Cornish was a Presbyterian clergyman who did his most important work outside of churches.

He published what may have been the first black owned and edited newspape in America, Freedom's Journal.

In reading this book I was reminded of the courage of so many individuals and the troubled times that our nation has faced and survived.

In my opinion, these are certainly important and valuable lessons to be learne from the pages of Dickey's book.

That's our show.

Tonight's book has bee The Republic of Violence by J.D.

Dickey.

I am pleased to recommend it to you.

See you next time and keep a book in your hand.