Gerteis argues that, since slavery in the South precluded individual autonomy and the free pursuit of material gain, major Northern reformers opposed it as early as the 1830s.

格泰斯认为，由于南方的奴隶制妨碍了个人自治和对物质利益的自由追求，北方的主要改革者早在19世纪30年代就反对奴隶制。