Thomas Jackson (abolitionist)

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Thomas Jackson (1807–1878) was born in Ilkeston, England. He and his brother Edward moved to the United States in 1829 and started the Jackson Rope Company in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In 1833, while on a business trip to Richmond, Virginia, Jackson saw a slave auction. This stunned him and led him to become an outspoken critic of slavery and racial inequality. He wrote editorials and articles about abolition in both American and English newspapers. His writings are now kept at the Library of Congress.

The collection was rediscovered in 2000 and researchers have worked to make it public by transcribing the letters and posting digitized copies at thomasjacksonletters.com. The Library of Congress notes this site provides extra information and saves versions of the material over time.

Jackson aimed to influence opinion across the Atlantic, urging English readers to withdraw support from the American cotton trade produced by slave labor. During the Civil War (1861–1865), he urged England to stay neutral while campaigning to end slavery in the United States. He gave anti-slavery lectures and hired freedmen at his mill, though there is no record of him joining a formal abolitionist group.

He chronicled the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and expressed concern about the country’s future after the war. After the war, he criticized President Andrew Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction policies and supported stronger protections for freedmen. He also debated with Horace Greeley over amnesty for former Confederates.

In the 1870s, Jackson faced arson attacks on his business and his health declined. He died in Reading on August 6, 1878. His writings remain at the Library of Congress and offer a grassroots view of 19th-century U.S. history. The Jackson Rope Company continued under different owners until 1979.