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Antislavery Movement. Why it matters. Reformers tried to improve life for all people in America, especially enslaved African Americans. Slavery in America. By 1804, all states north of Maryland banned slavery By 1807, bringing new slaves to America was banned
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Why it matters • Reformers tried to improve life for all people in America, especially enslaved African Americans
Slavery in America • By 1804, all states north of Maryland banned slavery • By 1807, bringing new slaves to America was banned • In the South, slaves formed an important part of the economy • Around 2 million slaves were in America during this time
Resistance to Slavery • Slave Revolts • Nat Turner • Led followers through Virginia countryside • Killed around 60 people during march • Eventually captured and executed • Harsh laws were passed to control slaves • No groups • No education
Underground Railroad • A secret network of people helped hid runaway slaves to move them north • Harriet Tubman • Made almost two dozen trips into the South • Guided hundreds of slaves to safety • Never captured
Abolitionists • Growing number of Americans opposed slavery began to speak up • William Lloyd Garrison • The Liberator • Demanded emancipation, freeing of the enslaved • Also sought full political and social rights for African Americans
Frederick Douglass • Born into slavery and escaped • Became a valuable speaker for the abolitionist cause • Became adviser to President Lincoln • Convinced Lincoln to allow freedman to fight for the North during Civil War
Civil Disobedience • Henry David Thoreau • Right of individuals to refuse to obey the laws they feel are unjust
Defending Slavery • Slaveholders in the South tried to prevent abolitionist ideas • Keep newspapers and books from the South • Developed arguments for slavery • Felt it formed the basis for Southern economy • Some northerners felt freeing slave would lead to losing their jobs • Also, northern industrialists felt losing slaves would hurt their own pockets
America Divided • Slavery ultimately divide the people in America • Differences in urban/industrialized North and rural/agricultural South