John Rankin (abolitionist)

For other people named John Rankin, see John Rankin (disambiguation).
Frontispiece of 1870's The Soldier, the Battle, and the Victory

John Rankin (February 5, 1793 – March 18, 1886) was an American Presbyterian minister, educator and abolitionist. Upon moving to Ripley, Ohio, in 1822, he became known as one of Ohio's first and most active "conductors" on the Underground Railroad. Prominent pre-Civil War abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Weld, Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe were influenced by Rankin's writings and work in the anti-slavery movement.

When Henry Ward Beecher was asked after the end of the Civil War, "Who abolished slavery?," he answered, "Reverend John Rankin and his sons did."[1]: 168 

  1. ^ Birney, William (1890). James G. Birney & His Times. New Hork: D. Appleton and Company.