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How Did Robert Purvis Contribute To The Civil War

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One of the many problems that interfered with the growth of this nation is slavery, which led to the civil war back in the early 1860’s. Many of the southerners depended on slavery at the time to function their plantations, but the northerners did not need slavery to do so with their businesses. This led to a lot of controversy on whether slavery should be allowed or not because the citizens were blinded by how useful they were and did not acknowledge how wrong slavery was at the time. This caused a lot of violence and the nation being torn apart into two, the Confederates and the Union. Robert Purvis became an abolitionist at a very young age and supported anti-slavery throughout his entire life. This man helped people see each other's views …show more content…

(Purvis 2) This committee assisted the fugitive slaves and cared for their needs throughout their long journeys. This organization is part of the Underground Railroad, which is a network of safe houses and secret routes that supplied runaway African-American slaves with the necessities for living. The Philadelphia Vigilance Committee assisted with food, water, clothes, shelter, legal fees, medical attention, and transportation, which was a big help to the suffering fugitives. Over time they made a large impact on the community by assisting around 495 runaway slaves. (Blockson 233) Although the members of this community new that there were large penalties and doing this was very dangerous at the time, they still continued to do it because they believed in slaves rights. Most of these runaway slaves came from Virginia and Maryland and tried their best to travel North, to Canada and New York to leave their old lives behind. (Purvis 1) Purvis’s activities outside of the committee were well known throughout the city, which led him into being targeted by many people for his differed beliefs. (Purvis 1) Purvis worked very closely with this organization and tried to protect the members at all costs. (Engledew 2) This association kept many records of the people they helped and the members, but Purvis destroyed the committee files to protect the members from prosecution. (Blockson 232) Robert Purvis was one of the first African American abolitionists at the time and he inspired many people to join and help the cause. For example, in 1839, while he was elected president of the committee, 9/16 of the members were black. (Blockson 235) This committee was a large part of Purvis’s life and how he helped people at the time, his actions

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