The Town That Started the Civil War

No community better reflected the growing passion against slavery than Oberlin College. In September 1858 the sudden kidnapping of a runaway slave who was living in Oberlin caused the entire community and its college students to rush to his rescue. The slave was rescued, but 37 of his rescuers were identified and put on trial for violating federal law, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The case became a cause célèbre throughout the North.