Conscience and Contradiction: The Moral Ambiguities of Antebellum Reformers Marcus and Rebecca Buffum Spring

A successful commission merchant whose trade in textiles included cotton, Marcus Spring (1810-1874) and his wife Rebecca Buffum Spring (1811-1911), the daughter of Quaker antislavery activist Arnold Buffum, used his fortune to further many antebellum causes, among them women's rights, public bath houses, utopian communities, literary and visual culture, and most especially abolition. Not until Rebecca Buffum Spring aided John Brown after his Harpers Ferry raid did critics and supporters note the potential conflict between the source of the Springs' wealth and their antislavery commitments. This essay offers a joint biography of a fascinating yet perplexing couple as they navigated the landscape of antebellum reform and capitalist development.