Chapter
12 Section 2
Objectives
• Describe efforts in the North to end slavery.
• Discuss the contributions of William Lloyd
Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and other
abolitionists.
• Describe the purpose and risks of the
Underground Railroad.
• Explain why many people in the North and
South defended slavery.
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Chapter
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Terms and People
• abolitionists – reformers who wanted to abolish,
or end, slavery
• William Lloyd Garrison – a Quaker who
launched an abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator,
and cofounded the New England Anti-Slavery
Society
• Frederick Douglass – a former slave who spoke
out against slavery and published an antislavery
newspaper, North Star
• Harriet Tubman – a former slave who helped
many slaves escape via the Underground Railroad
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Set Questions:
Think back to Section 1 Page 414
1. List three social reform movements during this
time period.
2. What was the movement to stop alcohol abuse?
3. What was the religious movement we discussed
in section 1?
4. What is a Utopian Community?
5. Who was an early champion (someone who
pushed for) of public education?
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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How did abolitionists try to end
slavery?
Since colonial times, some Americans had
opposed slavery on religious and moral
grounds.
Abolitionists tried to end slavery through
the political system, the press, and nongovernmental antislavery organizations.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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Early Opposition
A number of prominent leaders of the early
republic, such as Alexander Hamilton and
Benjamin Franklin, opposed slavery.
In 1790, Pennsylvania became the first state to
pass a law that gradually eliminated slavery.
By 1804, every northern state had ended or
pledged to end slavery, and Congress had banned
slavery in the Northwest Territory.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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Liberia
The American Colonization Society, an early
antislavery organization, wanted to free slaves
gradually and transport them to Liberia, a colony
founded in 1822 on the west coast of Africa.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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The colonization movement did not work because
most enslaved people had grown up in the U.S.
and did not want to leave.
By 1830, only about 1,400 African Americans had
migrated to Liberia.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Abolitionism
By the mid1800s, a small
but growing
number of
people were
abolitionists
who called for
an immediate
end to slavery.
The Second
Great
Awakening
inspired
further
opposition to
slavery.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
David Walker, a northern African American,
published a pamphlet called Appeal: to the
Coloured Citizens of the World.
He urged enslaved
people to rebel, if
necessary, to gain their
freedom.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
William Lloyd Garrison opposed the use of
violence to end slavery because he was a Quaker.
Yet, he was more radical
than most, because he
thought all African
Americans should have
full political rights.
In 1831, Garrison launched an abolitionist
newspaper, The Liberator, which folded only after
slavery had ended.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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Garrison cofounded the New England Anti-Slavery
Society—which later became the American AntiSlavery Society—whose members included:
• Minister Theodore Weld, a pupil of Charles
Finney
• Sarah and Angelina Grimke, daughters of a
South Carolina slaveholder
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Former president John Quincy Adams, now a
congressman, also supported the abolitionists.
• In 1839, he proposed a constitutional
amendment that would ban slavery in any
new state joining the Union, but the
amendment was not passed.
• In 1841, Adams defended captive Africans
who had seized the slave ship Amistad and
helped them regain their freedom.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Frederick Douglass
One of the most powerful speakers for
abolitionism was Frederick Douglass.
A former slave, Douglass
escaped to the North and
risked recapture by
speaking at antislavery
rallies.
Douglass also published his
own antislavery newspaper,
the North Star.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Underground Railroad
Some abolitionists helped people escape from
slavery via the Underground Railroad.
The Underground Railroad was a network of
people who secretly helped slaves reach freedom.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Working for the Underground Railroad was illegal
and dangerous, and people risked their lives to
help runaway slaves.
As many as 50,000 African Americans escaped
from slavery to freedom in the North or in Canada
via the Underground Railroad.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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The fugitive slaves were led by “conductors.”
They stopped at “stations,” which were often
abolitionists’ houses, or churches or caves.
Supporters donated clothing, food, and money.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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Harriet Tubman was the most
famous conductor on the
Underground Railroad.
She personally helped more than
300 slaves escape to freedom.
Slave owners tried to stop her,
offering a $40,000 reward for her
capture, but she was never
caught.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Abolitionists faced powerful obstacles in the North
as well as in the South.
Many northerners
relied on cotton
produced in the
south by slave
labor.
The Fight Against Slavery
Northerners also
feared that freed
slaves would take
their jobs.
Chapter
12 Section 2
Defenders of slavery began to act with greater
force.
• Northern supporters of slavery sometimes
attacked people at antislavery meetings.
• The state of Georgia offered a $5,000 reward
for the arrest and conviction of William Lloyd
Garrison for libel.
Southerners in Congress won passage of a “gag
rule” that blocked discussion of antislavery
petitions.
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
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Closing Questions:
1. What founding fathers disagreed with slavery?
2. Who published an anti-slavery newspaper in the North?
3. Why were this mans views more radical than most?
4. Who was the most famous conductor of the Underground
Railroad?
5. What is a station in terms of the Underground Railroad?
The Fight Against Slavery
Chapter
12 Section 2
Section Review
QuickTake Quiz
The Fight Against Slavery
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