(1795-1864), an American politican and reformer, especially famous as one of the moderate Abolitionists in the antislavery struggle. He was born at Tioga Point, Pa., but was taken in childhood to New York and then to Ohio. He served for a few months in the War of 1812, afterward taught school and in 1821 began the practice of law at Jefferson. He was elected to the legislature and to Congress and there early entered the struggle for the abolition of slavery in the territories. He soon attracted the attention of the country by his resolutions declaring that the slaves who had arisen and escaped from Virginia were guilty of no crime, since they were naturally entitled to their liberty. He was censured, and he resigned, but was immediately reelected, and he remained in Congress until 1859. Giddings powerfully opposed the Compromise of 1850, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854 and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.