Abolition Essay Plan Flashcards
Failure Intro
- Abolition for black freedom
- King Cotton
- Sectional Tension
- P1 Lack of Unity
- P2 Lack of Interest
- P3 Political Limitations
Failure P1: Lack of Unity
Several movements:
- Many different groups like temperance or women’s rights
- Several different abolition groups like 1833 American Anti-Slave Society Founded splitting attention
Liberator:
- 1831 first published by William Lloyd Garrison
- Liberator Circulation didn’t exceed 3,000
H:
- Temperly, Abolitionist movement found difficult to agree on how to achieve aims, rather than aims themselves, this handicapped effectiveness.
- Barnes and Dumond, most abolitionists had a straightforward moral attack, not violence of Garrison or Brown, which convinced majority of Northerners to side with abolitionists and emancipation.
Failure P2: Lack of Interest
South:
- 1831 Virginia, Nat Turner Revolt, 55 whites died before revolt ended. Southerners blamed abolitionists.
- South took action against them, excluded abolition literature, any thought to be sympathetic beaten & driven out
North:
- North feared blacks in society too
- North had dislikes too. 1837 Elijah Lovejoy killed by Northern mob in Illinois and became first abolition martyr
H:
- De Tocqueville, ‘The prejudice of race appears to be where it still exists.’
- Litwack, Pointed out the indifference of Northerners on the question of race.
Failure P3: Political Limitations
Congress:
- Gag Rule stopping abolitions impact in politics
- Fugitive slave act
- Dred Scott ruled against abolition cause
- Abolitionists set up their own Liberty Party. In 1840 its
presidential candidate won only 7000 votes.
H:
- Freehling, Federal Government had limited powers, states’ rights were seen as sacrosanct, and autonomy was fiercely guarded. As long as slavery was maintained in 15 states, it could not be abolished.
- Tulloch, abolitionists may have been heroes with feet of clay, nonetheless they were heroes.
