The Light of Nature and the Law of God: Antislavery in Ontario, 1833-1877

Allen Stouffer’s analysis of Ontario’s response to the freedmen reveals a virulent strain of racism that helps to explain why British North Americans were slow to join their British and American counterparts in the North Atlantic antislavery triangle. After exploring the Canadian churches’ mixed reaction to antislavery, he applies cliometrics to draw a socio-economic profile of Canadian antislavery’s leaders and followers. Employing British, American, and Canadian primary sources, Stouffer has written this study the first book-length examination of Canadian antislavery from a British North American perspective. Earlier studies concluded that Canadian anti-slavery was largely the result of Canada’s proximity to the United States, a proximity which precluded Canada’s ignoring the situation. While Stouffer recognizes the importance of the American influence, he shows that the leaders of Canadian anti-slavery were immigrants from Britain who had been deeply involved in antislavery in their homeland.