The Abolitionism: Ante-Bellum America

1. The Abolitionism: Ante-Bellum America 1800-1860

2. Introduction Quakers stood almost alone in professing that slaveholding was incompatible with Christian piety. The Age of Enlightenment and the American Revolution, however, led more Americans to link the slaves right to freedom with the colonists demand for independence. Anti-slavery restrictions Slavery banned in North by 1800 Prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory in 1787  Banned the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808

3. Influence from the Second Great Awakening Impact of the Awakening • Produced slave conversions • Revivalists’ acceptance of the moral worth of individual regardless race • Slavery a ”moral sin” • Women entered into politics • The abolitionist atmosphere increased

4. William Lloyd Garrison • The more militant abolitionism of the 1830s • Discovered that slaveholders supported the American Colonization Society • Published The Liberator – Abolitionism was born • Insisted that slavery end at once • Established a national organization, the American Anti-Slavery Society with Lewis Tappan “I am in earnest- I will not equivocate- I will not excuse- I will not retreat a single inch- and I will be heard,” – from the first issue of the Liberator-

5. Gradualists vs Immediatists

7. Frederick Douglass • Free African American who escaped from slavery in Maryland • A major leader of the abolitionism movement • Subscribed to Garrison’s journal The Liberator • Broke with Garrison, due to political differences; he started his own newspaper, “North Star” • Fought for women’s rights before Civil War

8. The Spread of Abolitionism • Printed word • William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper- The Liberator • Photographs • Pamphlets • Emotional, passionate testimonies • of ex-slaves • They gave firsthand accounts on the brutality of slavery and told their stories of escape. • Some speakers also advocated women’s rights (i.e. Sojourner Truth, the Grimké Sisters)

9. The Spread of Abolitionism • Organizations • The New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832, formed by Garrison • The American Anti-Slavery Society, also formed by Garrison but with the help Lewis Tappan and Theodore Weld • In the years before the Civil War, some 200,000 northerners belonged to an abolitionist society • The Underground Railroad • A network of anti-slavery sympathizers developed in the North to aid runaway slaves. • One of its most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman who escorted more than 200 slaves to freedom.

10. The Growth of Abolitionism • The Women’s Right’s Movement • This movement went hand in hand with the anti-slavery movement; their ideas and personnel were very linked dramatically. • An important component was Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave woman, who brought to mind the similarities between the two movements. Sojourner Truth

11. Success of the Movement • The most important result of the abolition movement was that it made the issue over slavery a political issue, versus merely a social issue • It became the center-point of the Lincoln-Douglass debate • The choice between pro- or anti-slavery was inescapable • Abolitionism was the match that lit the fire