The Abolitionist Movement

1. The Abolitionist Movement The large, bold woodcut image of a supplicant male slave in chains appears on the 1837 broadside publication of John Greenleaf Whittier's antislavery poem, "Our Countrymen in Chains."

2. Bell-Ringer • Slave-owners and pro-slavery advocates often classified African-Americans as subhuman to justify their mistreatment and enslavement. What would it take for you to view someone as being subhuman or less-than-human?

3. The history of the American abolitionist movement is usually credited to the Quakers during the colonial period. • The 1830s, however, would see a re-energized abolitionist movement, as other reform movements were in full-swing. • The appearance of this re-energized anti-slavery effort came at much the same time as the abolitionist movement in Britain was reaching its goal, thus providing a small group of American reformers with hope and inspiration. • Inspired by these efforts, American abolitionists of the 1830s demanded an immediate end to slavery, not a gradual one like some of the past tried to argue for. • For them, slavery was part of a complex system supported by a belief in blacks’ racial inferiority and the rightness of racial discrimination. To these people, our country had to eliminate both of these elements.

4. Walker’s Appeal In 1829, a Boston printer named David Walker published An Appeal, which condemned racism, using the democratic language of the Declaration of Independence, and hinted at racial violence if whites did not change their prejudiced ways.

5. In December 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Convention met in Philadelphia. This manifesto was published as a poster to present the group’s arguments against the evils of slavery.

6. One of the most influential and “radical” abolitionists of this time period was William Lloyd Garrison, who demanded the immediate end of slavery. • To him, and others, slavery was a moral wrong—not just an imperfect economic and social system—that clashed with the ideals that were at the heart of the Declaration of Independence and Christianity. • For many abolitionists of this time period, their strategy to bring about the immediate end of slavery was to educate the public and to use “moral suasion” through petitions, speakers, publications, and special agents who would spread the word of slavery’s sin. • They tried to argue that blacks were capable of improvement and progress and that slavery, not natural inferiority, limited them.

7. William Lloyd Garrison would emerge as one of the most militant of the abolitionists during the pre-Civil War years. Through his speeches and articles in his anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator, he would inspire supporters and critics alike.

8. As the 1840s came about, there would be great challenges to the abolitionist cause. • The nation’s expansion westward kept the argument over slavery going and made its supporters more aggressive. • Congress ruled that they would not discuss the issue of slavery and violence by pro-slavery forces would also create problems. • The abolitionists would also suffer challenges from within as some wanted to be more moderate and others more “radical.”

9. Opposition to abolitionism in the South prompted a variety of efforts to prevent the spreading of anti-slavery ideas. This depiction of a raid in July 1835 on the Charleston, SC, post office shows Southerners’ opposition to the AASS and the burning of The Liberator and other abolitionist publications.

10. The Lovejoy Murder The murder of Elijah Lovejoy in 1836 by pro-slavery forces as he tried to defend his printing press from being destroyed for a fourth time, highlighted how the passions that this subject ignited could rear its ugly head.

11. The building was opened on May 14, 1838, and, as a symbol of the abolitionist movement, was destroyed by an angry mob on May 17, 1838. Fire companies refused to fight the blaze.

13. Modern-Slavery:Vice: “Bonded Labor in Pakistan” • We are going to watch a segment from the HBO miniseries Vice on modern-day slavery in Pakistan. After viewing, your activity will involve your answering questions about what you saw in the film. • It will be hard for you to answer the questions if you are not here to view the film segment.

14. “Bonded Labor in Pakistan” Follow-Up • If another country wants to allow a form of slavery in their country, should they be allowed to do this? Why or why not? • After watching this segment, do you think this is an issue the United States should become involved with? Why or why not? • What conditions or factors made the people in this segment become slaves? Do you see something like this happening in the United States? How? • Write all of your answers on a separate sheet of loose leaf paper. By yourself.