John Van Zandt

John Van Zandt (died 1847) was an American abolitionist who aided the Underground Railroad resistance movement in Ohio after he had been a slaveholder in Kentucky.

[citation needed] Sued for monetary damages by a slaveholder whose escaped slaves he had aided, he was a party to Jones v. Van Zandt (1847), a case by which abolitionists intended to challenge the constitutionality of slavery.

The US Supreme Court decided the case against Van Zandt and upheld the right of the US Congress and the obligation of the US government to protect slavery, as it was established under the US Constitution.

In the 1840s, he was caught and was excommunicated from the Sharonville Methodist Episcopal Church, which had joined the Southern portion of the national congregations, although he had been a trustee and helped found it.

About a dozen Van Zandt descendants traveled to the city to accept a formal letter of apology by the church for expelling their ancestor for his anti-slavery activities.