Editing Greeneville, Tennessee (section)

===Greeneville and the abolitionist movement===
[[Image:GreenevillePresbyterianChurch.jpg|upright|thumb|First Presbyterian Church, founded by Rev. Hezekiah Balch and Samuel Doak in 1780]]

Greene County, like much of East Tennessee, was home to a strong abolitionist movement in the early 19th century. This movement was likely influenced by the relatively large numbers of [[Quakers]] who migrated to the region from Pennsylvania in the 1790s. The Quakers considered slavery to be in violation of Biblical Scripture and were active in the region's abolitionist movement throughout the antebellum period.<ref>Doughty, 43.</ref> One such Quaker was [[Elihu Embree]] (1782–1820), who published the nation's first abolitionist newspaper, ''The Emancipator'', at nearby [[Jonesborough, Tennessee|Jonesborough]].

When Embree's untimely death in 1820 effectively ended publication of ''The Emancipator'', several of Embree's supporters turned to [[Ohio]] abolitionist [[Benjamin Lundy]], who had started publication of his own antislavery newspaper, ''The Genius of Universal Emancipation'', in 1821. Anticipating that a southern-based abolitionist movement would be more effective, Lundy purchased Embree's printing press and moved to Greeneville in 1822. Lundy remained in Greeneville for two years before moving to [[Baltimore]]. He would later prove influential in the career of [[William Lloyd Garrison]], whom he hired as an associate editor in 1829.<ref>Tara Mitchell Mielnik, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=812 Benjamin Lundy]." ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009.  Retrieved: 11 February 2013.</ref><ref>Doughty, 44-46.</ref>

Greenevillians involved in the abolitionist movement included Hezekiah Balch, who freed his slaves at the Greene County Courthouse in 1807. [[Samuel Doak]], the founder of [[Tusculum College]], followed in 1818. Valentine Sevier (1780–1854), a nephew of [[John Sevier]] who served as Greene County Court Clerk, freed his slaves in the 1830s and offered to pay for their passage to [[Liberia]], which had been formed as a colony for freed slaves. Francis McCorkle, the pastor of [[First Presbyterian Church (Greeneville, Tennessee)|Greeneville's Presbyterian Church]], was a leading member of the Manumission Society of Tennessee.<ref>Doughty, 43-47.</ref>