In 1860, a lay preacher born in Ohio learned the danger of speaking against slavery on Missouri’s northern border, a place distant from the heart of slavery territory. The slave population was small, yet pro-slavery sentiments were strong. The earliest White settlers primarily were natives of the mid-south. Most of those settlers would never own slaves, but they imported the belief, as dictated by the Bible and their churches, that Whites were permitted to enslave Blacks. Yet, even in northern Missouri, slaves endured brutal punishment, and enslavers often separated families permanently.
Northern Missouri was bordered on three sides of the “free” states of Iowa and Illinois, plus the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Tensions ran high in this peninsula of slavery. Anyone who declared slavery sinful in public put themselves in danger with the local southern-leaning power structure. A Methodist Episcopal circuit rider experienced that when he was arrested for speaking words that could incite “persons of color to rebellion” or worse. The preacher’s offense was saying that slavery was a sin, which led his slave holding accuser to believe the minister’s words threatened his right to make a living. 
Perilous Ground is the story of the public debate that led to the arrest and subsequent court case. The incident was made possible by an incendiary atmosphere that engulfed the region leading up to the Civil War. Yet, dramatically changing attitudes and demographics would soon take power away from slaveholders and their supporters.
t Whites were permitted to enslave Blacks. Yet, even in northern Missouri, slaves endured brutal punishment, and enslavers often separated families permanently.

Northern Missouri was bordered on three sides of the “free” states of Iowa and Illinois, plus the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Tensions ran high in this “peninsula of slavery.” Anyone who believed slavery was a sin, and said so in public, put themselves in danger. Henry Howe, a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, experienced that when he was arrested for speaking words that could incite “persons of color to rebellion” or worse. He said slavery was a sin. His accuser believed Howe was threatening his right to make a living.

Perilous Ground is the story of the public debate that led to Howe’s arrest and the subsequent court case. The incident was made possible by an incendiary atmosphere that engulfed the region leading up to the Civil War. It also tells of dramatically changing attitudes and demographics that took power away from slaveholders and their supporters.