BEGINNINGS OF ABOLITION MOVEMENT
• Emancipation = immediate freedom without
repayment of losses to slave owners
• Abolition = discontinuation of slavery
• The growth in reform and the view of religion as an
individual issue led to growing belief that slavery
was against God’s will
• By 1820s – movements started to relocate blacks to
Africa:
– Issue of not wanting blacks in the country
– Similar argument used about Natives: whites and
blacks cannot live together (co-exist)
• However, many freed Africans fought that, believing
they were also Americans and had the same rights
to the freedoms of the country
EARLY LEADERS
• By the early
1830s, men
such as
Theodore D.
Weld, and the
Tappan
brothers, Lewis
& Arthur, had
taken up the
cause of
"immediate
emancipation“
WILLIAM
LLOYD
GARRISON
• In 1828, while working for the
National Philanthropist,
Garrison first became
involved in the abolition
movement
• In 1830 he started an
abolitionist paper, The
Liberator
• In 1832, with the Tappan
brothers and over 60 others,
he helped form the New
England Antislavery Society
• Believed the Constitution was
a pro-slavery document
• By 1840 Garrison was convinced that slavery's
influence corrupted all society and a change was
needed in America's spiritual values to achieve
emancipation
• Garrison added equal rights for women within the
movement and encouraged people not to attend or
support "corrupt" political parties and churches
“Let Southern oppressors tremble-let their Northern
apologists tremble-let all the enemies of the persecuted
Blacks tremble. . . . Urge me not to use moderation in a
cause like the present. I am in earnest-I will not equivocate-I
will not excuse-I will not retreat a single inch-AND I WILL BE
HEARD!"
DAVID
WALKER
• He wrote a pamphlet Appeal…to the
Colored Citizens of the World…
(1829), urging slaves to fight for
their freedom
• Owned a used clothing business
that sold clothes to sailors. He
concealed copies of the pamphlet in
the clothing
• When the smuggled pamphlets
began to appear in the South, states
reacted with legislation prohibiting
circulation of abolitionist literature
• Warned that his life was in danger,
Walker refused to flee to Canada.
His body was found later near his
shop, and many believed he had
been poisoned
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
• 2nd Great Awakening brought Christian views to
more blacks – and idea that all are equal
• 1816 – Start of the Bethel African Church in
Philadelphia, later the AME Church
• Blacks start separate churches of worship:
– Place of safety and support
– Strong sense of community
– Place of opposition to slavery
– Push for political and social equality
• Development of political power and organization of
national convention in Philadelphia
EFFECTS OF NAT TURNER REBELLION
• Nat Turner was a preacher who believed he was
chosen by God to lead people to freedom
• 1831 – his group attacked plantations in Virginia,
killing 60 people before being caught and later hung
• Fear of uprisings led to backlash against blacks in
the South
• States like Virginia, which had a large population
who did not own slaves, discussed abolition
• Southern slave states tightened controls on blacks,
such as education, assemble in public, own property
• 1836 – Congress passed the GAG RULE limiting
debate on an issue and preventing submission of
abolition petitions
• Born into slavery but he did
gain an education
• Finally managed to escape
when he was 21 years old,
helped by a free black
woman who would later
become his 1st wife
• Became active in the
Abolition movement and
subscribed to Garrison’s
newspaper
• Garrison later encouraged
him to become a lecturer at
meetings
FREDERICK
DOUGLASS
• 1845 – published his autobiography Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
• Because of the success of the book, Douglass was
forced to move to Europe to escape recapture
• Supporters raised the money needed to purchase his
legal freedom
• 1848 – returned to America and began his own
Abolitionist paper The North Star
• Became active in the women’s movement and
attended the Seneca Falls Convention
• During the Civil War, used his influence to
encourage Lincoln to allow African-Americans to join
the military and receive equal treatment
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where
ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that
society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade
them, neither persons nor property will be safe
DIFFERENCES IN SLAVERY
• By the 1830s almost all slaves were American-born
• Rural Slavery = Hard labor in fields, restricted where
could go, frequent punishment, families separated,
living conditions poor
• Urban Slavery = More opportunities to earn
independent money, more freedom of movement,
social pressures reduced level of punishment, more
interaction with free people, white and black
http://answersinhistory.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/slavery.gif
http://mrhureausclass.com/ushistory/slavery%202.jpg
http://www.mostateparks.com/statecapcomplex/statemuseum/se_pics/goodbye.jpg
JUSTIFICATION / SUPPORT OF SLAVERY
• The Bible talked about slavery, so it must be
acceptable according to God
• Slaves are Christians instead of heathens – so
slavery and Christianity could co-exist
• The idea that slaves actually lived better than if freed
– Used conditions of northern factory workers as an
example of differences in treatment
– Southerners cared for their slaves during their
entire life (some actually did)
historyproject.
ucdavis.edu