The Antislavery Movement

• The movement to end slavery

• Freeing of enslaved people

• A network of escape routes that provided protection and transportation for slaved fleeing north to freedom.
– The term railroad referred to paths that African
Americans traveled, either on foot or in wagons
– Underground means it was secret

• This law prohibited antislavery petitions from being read or acted upon in the house of Representatives for the next 8 years.

What tactics did the abolitionist movement use to achieve the emancipation of slaves?
• Protest
• Political action
• Publishing
• Forming groups and societies
• Developing a colonization program
(Liberia)
• The Underground
Railroad

Name 4 abolitionist leaders and describe their contributions to the movement.

• Published a newspaper
– The Liberator
• Denounced moderation
– He insisted on aggressively denouncing the institution of slavery
• Founded American
Antislavery Society

• Great speaker and writer
• Started a newspaper
– The North Star
• Opposed violence

• Involved women by speaking and writing pamphlets

• She herself was an escaped slave
• Led many other slaves to freedom
– Led more than 300 slaves to freedom
– Earned the nickname
“black Moses”

Why did divisions emerge within the abolitionist movement?
• Leaders disagreed over whether or not to employ illegal tactics
– Like helping slaves escape
• Many male members disagreed over whether or or not to allow women to play prominent roles within the movement

What groups resisted the efforts of abolitionists
• Northern merchants
– Feared souring relations with the South
• White workers and labor leaders
– Feared job competition
• Most southerners
• Public officials in the south
– Southern mailmen refused to deliver abolitionist literature

What types of resistance did they carry out?
• Held violent demonstrations
• Murdered some abolitionist newspaper editors
– Like Elijah P. Lovejoy
• Passed the gag rule

Describe how geography affected the course of the Underground Railroad
• Led to safety in Canada
• Mississippi River provided a natural escape route north
• Swamps of the Atlantic
Coast allowed slaves to hide
• Appalachian Mountains provided shelter

Describe how geography presented challenges to travelers along the routes
• Mississippi River was dangerous because slave hunters stalked the riverboat towns
• Swamps had dangers like poisonous snakes
• Mountains presented barriers