The tumultuous 1850s were marked by the increasing polarization of the country around the issue of slavery - the South was deeply entrenched economically and ideologically in maintaining and extending the institution of slavery, while the North was moving towards the position that Abolitionists had maintained for two decades, to end the scourge of dehumanization. Key incidents include the Fugitive Slave Law, the "rescue" of Black people captured by slave-hunters in the North, the widespread popular success of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Dred Scott decision, Bleeding Kansas, the rise of the Republican party, and the raid on Harper's Ferry by John Brown and his inter-racial guerilla fighters. Each of these was a dramatic event, and for those in editorial seats like Charles and Cyrus Burleigh, it was incumbent upon them to respond. There was also a need for many micro-actions, especially as the Underground Railroad increased in its importance with the Fugitive Slave Law. 

There were also the tensions felt by Abolitionists like Charles who had embraced peace principles. They could feel the move towards full-scale bloodshed, even before John Brown made it explicit. 

From the Burleigh family perspective, the 1850s were also a time of great sadness. The loss of Lydia Bradford Burleigh in 1853, mother of the core generation of siblings, was a very difficult one, both for the love the family bore her, and because it left Lucian and Mary with an even more burdensome task of elder care for their father. The early death of Cyrus Moses Burleigh at just 35 years of age, was a particularly difficult loss for Charles, who had worked closely with him as a brother, mentor, and fellow-laborer in Pennsylvania.

Mary finally found a mate in Jesse Ames, whom she married in 1854. Very little is known yet about their courtship and marriage, or Jesse's personality and life story. 

William, bruised by the partisan battles among the Abolitionists, turned his full-time attention to Temperance, working for the New York State Temperance Society as an agent and editor. Charles also pulled back from editing, returning to Plainfield in the 1850s, but remaining quite active as a speaker and author.

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