Writings on Slavery and the American Civil War (review)

The career of British writer and abolitionist Harriet Martineau was, according to Deborah Anna Logan, "intimately implicated" with the Civil War period in U.S. history (ix). Indeed, Writings on Slavery and the American Civil War contains more than fifty essays and articles written from approximately 1837 to 1866, with a wide range of topics including the split in the abolitionist movement, John Brown, and the South. Logan effectively describes this era in U.S. history as being characterized by the tension between the country's theory of social freedom and its practice of slavery. More importantly, through her own words as well as through Martineau's, she convincingly argues that Martineau understood this disjunction and examined it in her writings. Logan also documents the connections Martineau made with some prominent American abolitionists during her 1834–36 tour of the U.S., and traces the continuation of some of those professional and personal relationships after Martineau's return to England.

Slavery is one of the more crucial aspects of U.S. history, and that Martineau was well-informed and articulate about one key aspect of it—northeastern abolitionism—is enough to justify the collection and publication of these writings. But Logan pushes the point, stating that "Martineau's affiliations with the 'movers and shakers' of American politics and society placed her at the forefront of Anglo-American relations on the slavery issue" (xxiii). Further still, the author maintains that "understanding her [Martineau's] role in American abolitionism as a literary liaison between Britain and America is essential for any comprehensive understanding of Anglo-American relations during this crucial period in United States history" (xxiv). But a reader is told of only one American with whom Martineau enjoyed a substantive and prolonged relationship, the abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman. While Chapman was a "mover and shaker" in Boston society, she was hardly one in American society and politics. Martineau's impact upon the U.S. is measured mostly by a few quotes from literary elites; her influence upon Britain is evidenced largely by one eulogist's statement that Martineau "alone kept public opinion on the right [pro-North] side" (90).

Historians may be frustrated by other factors in this book. The selection, editorial, and transcription process is not fully explained for any document. Information about where and when certain writings were first published is unclear, and the question is not addressed whether all of Martineau's letters were intended for publication. The documents are arranged chronologically within genres (travel writings, newspapers and periodicals, journal articles), and also chronologically within publishers (London's Daily News, the Spectator, etc.), resulting in an oftentimes fragmented historical context.

The collection may not provide us with a richer understanding of Anglo-American relations, but it certainly provides us with a richer understanding of abolitionism. As more scholars are studying the role of female abolitionists in particular, Harriet Martineau has much to tell us. What may be most fascinating and useful in this work is the very thing that the author tries to ignore: Martineau's bias and misinformation. When Martineau, an advocate for women's rights like most female abolitionists, writes that the great majority of Southern women live in "fear and grief" because of slavery, and that those who speak in its defense have been "tempted" by men, she exposes the false assumptions, or perhaps the hopes, of female abolitionists (134). In doing so, she reveals much about the deep divisions and misunderstandings of her time.