8/5/1831 Dear Caroline, How have you been doing? I have not spoken to you in a while. It has been very crazy around here lately as there has been a major uproar in discussion over slavery. As you may already know there have been several different opinions on how to eliminate slavery. There was the gradualism method which was the idea of eliminating slavery gradually. This idea was thought to be beneficial because it would give us time to adjust to the loss of this income from the slaves. Another opinion on the elimination of slaves was American colonization. This was the idea that African Americans should move back to Africa to form what is now known as Liberia. Some slaves followed this plan but it was very unrealistic for most. Now another idea has come about. Abolition. Some groups think that slaves should all be immediately freed. Have you heard of William Lloyd Garrison? Well, he is a leader of the abolitionist movement and had been doing some big things. He is a writer of an anti-slavery journal saying that all Americans have an obligation to take part in this cause. All in all things are becoming pretty hectic down here and who knows what will happen with our slaves. Talk to you later. Elizabeth