This Week In Illinois History: "Abolitionism Begins in Illinois (Feb. 1, 1833)" (Feb. 1, 2021)
One hundred and eighty-eight years ago, Illinois’s nascent anti-slavery movement began to pick up steam. On Feb. 1, 1833, eleven men who shared a fierce loathing of America’s peculiar institution banded together and established the Putnam County Anti-Slavery Society, the first anti-slavery society in Illinois, and one of the first in the western United States.
Many white settlers of Putnam County came from eastern abolitionist stock. In the early 1830s, they sought new opportunities along the fertile Illinois River, in the Spring Valley region north of Peoria. Putnam County quickly became a hotbed of abolitionist activity.