A

A. B. Plot.-William H. Crawford, of Georgia,
was a prominent_Democratic-Republican
candidate for the Presidency in 1824. Dur-
ing the early part of that year a series of let-
ters signed "A. B." appeared in a Washington
newspaper charging him with inalfeasance in
office as Secretary of the Treasury. They
were written by Ninian Edwards, of Illinois,
who had just been appointed minister to Mex-
ico, and who acknowledged their authorship.
Apr. 19, 1824, Edwards presented a memorial
to the House of Representatives making spe-
cific charges. These he failed to sustain,
and Crawford was exonerated.
Abaco Island, negotiations for cession of lands
on, for erection of light-houses, II, 276.
Abandoned Lands. (See Freedmen's Bureau.)
Abbot, Henry L., member of Gun Foundry
Board, VIII, 161.

Aberdeen, Lord, mentioned, IV, 229, 316.
Abert, James W., expedition of, on Arkansas
River referred to, IV, 450.

Abert, John J., map of Texas compiled under
direction of, IV, 313.

Ableman vs. Booth.-An important Supreme
Court case maintaining the constitutionality
of the fugitive-slave law of 1850. Booth was
tried before a commissioner appointed by the
United States district court of Wisconsin for
violation of the fugitive-slave law, and or-
dered to appear before the district court.
Failing to do so, he was imprisoned by Able-
man, the United States marshal for the dis-
trict, but was released by the supreme court
of the State on a writ of habeas corpus. Later
he was indicted before the United States dis-
trict court, but was again released by the
State supreme court. In 1858 the case came
before the United States Supreme Court.
Booth had pleaded the unconstitutionality of
the law. The court upheld the law and re-
versed the decision of the State supreme
court.

Abnaki or Tarrateen Indians.- A confeder-
acy of tribes of the Algonquian stock of In-
dians, who originally inhabited the northeast-
ern part of the United States, including the
present State of Maine and parts of adjoin-
ing States, and a portion of Canada. The
Abnaki included the Penobscot, the Passa-
maquoddy, and the Amalicite tribes. They
assisted the French in their wars with the
English and were expatriated by the latter.
The name is interpreted as meaning "the
whitening sky at daybreak" —i. e., Eastern
people.

Abolition. (See Slavery.)
Abolitionists. A term applied during and
preceding the Civil War to the members of
the New England Anti-Slavery Society and
those who held with them that "immediate
unconditional emancipation without expatri-
ation was the right of every slave and could
not be withheld by his master an hour with-
out sin." Jan. 1, 1831, William Lloyd Garri-
son commenced the publication in Boston of
a paper called The Liberator, which advoca-
ted the immediate liberation of slaves, re-
gardless of all laws or constitutional provi-
sions to the contrary. At the beginning of the
following year he organized the above named
society, with the foregoing as its chief doc-
trine. Near the close of 1833 a similar society
was formed in Philadelphia. From this time
the question assumed national importance.
In consequence of his uncompromising utter-
ances Garrison was indicted by grand juries
in several Southern States and rewards were
offered for his conviction. The New York
Weekly Emancipator was another organ of
the Abolitionists. Some strong pamphlets
on the subject were: Justice and Expediency;
or, Slavery Considered with a View to its
Rightful and Effectual Remedy- Abolition,
by John G. Whittier, Haverhill, Mass.; Ap-
peal in Behalf of that Class of Americans
Called Africans, by Lydia Maria Child; and
The Sin of Slavery and Its Remedy, by Eli-
zur Wright, a professor in the Western Re-
serve College. Abolition sentiments were
not confined solely to the Northern States.
Aborigines.-A word used to designate the
earliest inhabitants of a country. In Amer-
ica the term is applied generally to the In-
dians found by the early settlers.
Absaroka Forest Reserve, proclaimed, X,
516.

Absentee Shawnee Indians, agreement be-
tween Cherokee Commission and, IX, 79.
Proclaimed, IX, 156.

Abyssinia, an empire in Africa, bounded on
the north by Eritrea, on the east by Danakil
country and Somaliland, on the south and
west by British East Africa, and on the
northwest by the Sudan. It is the direct de-
scendant of the ancient Ethiopia, possesses
an ancient and interesting national Christian
church which owes allegiance to the Coptic
Patriarch of Alexandria, and has a code of
laws based upon that of Justinian. The po-
litical institutions are feudal in character,
bearing a marked likeness to those of medi-
æval Europe. The chief exports are coffee,
gum, wax, gold, ivory and civet. The area is

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