Given the tumult occurring now in the United States, it’s worth reflecting on some particulars of another tumultuous period, the mid-1800s. In 1850, while two-thirds of the population in the northern states opposed the institution of slavery, only 5% supported emancipation of the slaves. This was in part because of a fear that emancipation would cause a disruptive exodus of freed slaves into the north.

A mere fifteen years later, the Civil War started.