That Adams's contribution to the antislavery cause in the United States was significant, as well as "courageous," however, is undeniable.

Addams was born in 1860 in small-town Cedarville, Ill., to a prosperous Quaker family imbued with dedication to the antislavery cause.

Adams's strategy during the long campaign was "to subordinate - or to appear to subordinate - the antislavery cause to the issue of civil liberty."

Activists came to the antislavery cause, Goodman argues, in order to "sacralize everyday life."

He identified himself with the antislavery cause, became a Free-soiler in 1848, and established the Medford station of the Underground Railroad to help escaped slaves reach freedom.

Thornton and his wife settled in Toronto, where they lived respectably and became active in the antislavery cause.

But the name probably derives from Alphonse de Lamartine, the French poet and politician identified with liberal and antislavery causes.

John Jay had been a prominent leader in the antislavery cause since 1777, when he drafted a state law to abolish slavery.

In 1854, however, Congressional action undermining the antislavery cause drew him back to politics.

Sumner took years to recover; he became the martyr to the antislavery cause who said the episode proved the barbarism of slave society.