From Slavery to Freedom
th
9 ed.
Chapter 9
Abolitionism in Black
and White
Abolitionism in Black and White
 Abolitionism in Black and White
 Three events that heralded age of militant
abolitionism:
 1829 publication of David Walker’s Appeal
 1831 publication of the inaugural issue of William
Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper, The Liberator
 1831 insurrection of Nat Turner
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Black Abolitionists
 Black Antislavery Societies
 In 1820s, 50 black-led antislavery societies
operated in various cities
 In 1830, blacks held first national convention
issuing denunciations of colonization and slavery
 After publication of The Liberator, black
abolitionists aligned with Garrison
 Blacks participated in 1833 establishment of the
American Anti-Slavery society
 Also worked at local and regional antislavery
organizations
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Black Abolitionists
 Women Abolitionists
 Women in many cities formed their own
antislavery organizations
 Addressed abolition and gender issues
 Many male abolitionists opposed female
officeholders in prominent male-run societies
 Black Agents
 Blacks worked as agents and speakers for
various societies
 Frederick Douglass
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Sojourner Truth
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Black Abolitionists
 Newspapers
 African American newspapers aired debates and
ideas of black community
 Freedom’s Journal – first black newspaper
 Most popular black abolitionist paper The North
Star, founded by Frederick Douglass and Martin
Delany in 1847
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Mary Ann Shadd Cary
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Antislavery Agendas
 Antislavery Agendas
 Abolitionism closely connected to religious
revivalism
 Argued that slavery contrary to Jesus’ teaching of
universal brotherhood
 The Abolitionist Argument
 Abolitionists argued that slavery:
 Was against fundamental principles of American life
 Was economically unsound
 Threatened culture of and civilization of the South
 Threatened peace and safety of country
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Antislavery Agendas
 Colonization movement was strongest among
slaveholders in Upper South
 White abolitionists and blacks realized colonization
buttressed slavery
 The Crusade
 Throughout 1830s, abolitionist cause grew,
moving beyond the borders of the Northeast
 Theodore Dwight Weld
 Oberlin College
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Antislavery Agendas
 The American Anti-Slavery Society
 Cofounded by Dwight Weld, Arthur Tappan, and
William Lloyd Garrison in 1833
 Differences between Garrison and Tappan arose
 Garrison did not think society pressed hard enough for
abolition; critical of unwillingness to work for
women’s equality
 New York faction under Tappan broke away and
formed rival American Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
focusing only on slavery issues
 1840 splinter group, the Liberty Party, formed in
attempt to bring abolition into electoral politics
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William Lloyd Garrison
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Antislavery Agendas
 Black vs. White Abolitionists
 Black abolitionists angered by whites’ lack of
support for true racial equality
 White abolitionists uncomfortable with black
convention movement
 Black-White Cooperation
 White abolitionists important benefactors of
nineteenth-century African American artists
 Friendships developed between black and white
abolitionists
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Proslavery Backlash
 The Proslavery Argument
 Southerners promoted idea that slavery was a
“positive good”
 Four main arguments of proslavery theorists
 Blacks biologically and mentally inferior, a different
species of humanity
 Necessity of slave labor for rise of civilization and
economic development of South
 Blacks destined by history to subordinate position in
society
 Slavery divinely ordained
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Proslavery Backlash
 Defending the Institution
 Antislavery rhetoric prohibited in the South
 Willing to use force to keep abolitionists out of
communities
 Proslavery leaders went to North to pursue
runaway slaves, spread proslavery doctrine, and
spy on abolitionists
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Proslavery Backlash
 Persecution and Violence
 Conflict between two sides led to harassment and
violence
 Conflict over abolitionist views occurred in the
North as well
 New York journalists warned of the threat of the
abolitionist “amalgamation”
 Abolitionists frequently target of violence
 1836 southern congressional leaders adopted a rule to
table all petitions against slavery (“gag rule”)
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Proslavery Backlash
 Changing Attitudes
 Violence and gag rule backfired
 Late1840s northern whites began to see slavery as
threat to liberty; 1850s political opponents of slavery
began to win elections
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The Black Response
 Black Counterarguments
 Frederick Douglass – “oneness of man”
 James McCune Smith
 Black Narratives
 Ex-slave writers were influential in refuting the
notion that slaves were happy and content
 Black Literature
 Quality and quantity of black literature disproved
charges of innate inferiority of blacks
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The Underground Railroad
 Origins
 Started as network of antislavery activists
 General Thomas Boude refused to give mother of his
slave Stephen Smith back to her mistress
 Town of Columbia, Pennsylvania decided to champion
cause of fugitive slaves
 Number of slaves reaching freedom via the
Underground Railroad unknown
 Intensified resentment of slaveholders toward
the North
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Robert Duncanson,
View of Cincinnati, Ohio
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The Underground Railroad in
the nineteenth century
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The Underground Railroad
 Railroad Operations
 Most operations took place at night
 Slaves prepared by taking supplies from masters
and often disguising themselves
 Early days, mostly on foot; as it grew, used
covered wagons, closed carriages
 “Stations” were planned where fugitives could
eat, rest, and hide; news went out of their
pending arrival via the “grapevine telegraph”
 All Underground Railroad lines led to free states
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The Underground Railroad
 Resources
 Abolitionists raised funds required for the
substantial material resources necessary
 Had many active workers
 John Fairfield
 Black Conductors
 Underground Railroad relied on many black
conductors
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The Underground Railroad
 Harriet Tubman
 Using money from her work as a domestic
servant, she left the North fourteen times to bring
family and other slaves to freedom
 After fugitive slave laws passed, she preferred
bringing slaves to Canada
 Jermain Loguen
 Minister and stationmaster of the Underground
Railroad in Syracuse, New York
 Openly denounced the Fugitive Slave Law
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Harriet Tubman
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The Path to Civil War
 The Path to Civil War
 Expansion of slavery central to turmoil that led
up to the Civil War
 Fugitive slaves also highly controversial
 The Compromise of 1850
 Included stringent fugitive slave law, but
admitted California into the Union as a free state
 Under new fugitive slave act, owners of escaped
slaves intensified manhunts; many slaves
returned, others increasingly feared capture
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The Path to Civil War
 The Christiana Riot
 Effort to thwart capture of four runaway slaves
ended in death of plantation owner who was
looking for the slaves
 “Jerry Rescue” – mob of abolitionists rescued a
fugitive slave who was apprehended in Syracuse
 The Sectional Truce Unravels
 Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
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The Path to Civil War
 Passage of Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Repeals Missouri Compromise; allows territories to
decide if they want to be a free or slave state
 North and South struggle for control of Kansas
 Galvanized leaders into political action; antislavery
Republican Party is formed
 The Dred Scott Decision
 Slave who accompanied master to free state
sued, claiming his residence on free soil had
liberated him
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The Path to Civil War
 Supreme Court held Scott was not a citizen and
therefore could not bring suit in the courts
 Also held that Congress could not ban slavery in
federal territories and that free blacks could never be
citizens
 The Appeal of Force
 Black community began to see force as both
necessary and inevitable
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The Dred Scott Case
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The Path to Civil War
 John Brown’s Raid
 Plan to attack slaveholders and liberate slaves
 Seized federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry; quickly
overwhelmed by federal and state troops
 Raid terrified the South; moved toward military
preparedness
 John Brown convicted and hung to death
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