Lesson 4: Abolitionism

Question 1

Abolitionist Definition

Answer 1

a person who wanted to end slavery

Question 2

American Colonization Society Definition

Answer 2

an organization in the early 1800s that proposed to end slavery by helping African Americans move to Africa

Question 3

Civil Disobedience Definition

Answer 3

the refusal to obey unjust laws using non-violent means

Question 4

Frederick Douglass Definition

Answer 4

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African American activist, speaker, and writer who escaped slavery and became a leader of the abolitionist movement.

Question 5

The Liberator Definition

Answer 5

the most influential antislavery newspaper; begun by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831

Question 6

Underground Railroad Definition

Answer 6

a network of abolitionists who secretly helped African Americans to escape to freedom

Question 7

How did religion impact the opposition towards slavery?

Answer 7

Religious beliefs led some Americans to oppose slavery. Since colonial times, Quakers had taught that it was a sin for one human being to own another. All people, they said, were equal in the sight of God. Later, during the Second Great Awakening, ministers such as Charles Grandison Finney called on Christians to join a crusade to stamp out slavery. A movement to abolish slavery developed in response to religious teachings in England in the late 1700s.

Question 8

What were the efforts made by Northern states to end slavery, compared to the South?

Answer 8

In the North, slavery was not important to the economy. As growing numbers of northerners opposed it, slavery gradually came to an end in the North. By 1804, all the states from Pennsylvania through New England had ended slavery or promised to free their enslaved African Americans over time. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had banned slavery in the Northwest Territories, which became the Midwestern states north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. Efforts to end slavery had little effect in the South. There were only 50,000 enslaved African Americans in the North in 1800, compared with nearly one million in the South.

Question 9

What led to the South becoming more dependent on slaves, thus increasing the amount of them?

Answer 9

At the same time as northern leaders were ending slavery in their states, the South was growing ever more dependent on slavery. As you have learned, plantation agriculture was growing rapidly in the South in the early 1800s. As a result, there was little support in the South for ending slavery.

Question 10

What idea was proposed by the American Colonization Society to help African Americans? Why was it not accepted by a majority?

Answer 10

The American Colonization Society proposed to end slavery by setting up an independent colony in Africa for Africans and African Americans who had gained freedom from slavery. In 1822, President Monroe helped the society found a colony in western Africa. This colony gained control over a territory that later became the nation of Liberia. Some African Americans favored colonization, believing that they would never have equal rights in the United States. Most, however, opposed the movement. Nearly all, enslaved or free, had been born in the United States. They wanted to stay in their homeland. In the end, only a few thousand African Americans settled in Liberia.

Question 11

What were the differing speeds different abolitionists wanted slavery to end by? When did support for the Abolitionism movement grow most rapidly?

Answer 11

A growing number of reformers, known as abolitionists, wanted to end slavery completely in the United States. Some abolitionists favored a gradual end to slavery. They expected slavery to die out if it was kept out of the western territories. Other abolitionists demanded that slavery end everywhere, at once. Almost all abolitionists were northerners. The abolitionist movement gradually gained strength from the 1820s through the 1840s. It grew more rapidly during the 1850s.

Question 12

What did abolitionists Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, both free African Americans, do to stop slavery?

Answer 12

Free African Americans played a key role in the abolitionist movement. Some tried to end slavery through lawsuits and petitions. In the 1820s, Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm set up an abolitionist newspaper, Freedom’s Journal. They hoped to turn public opinion against slavery by printing stories about the brutal treatment of enslaved African Americans.

Question 13

What did David Walker, a free African American, state in “An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World”? What was his friend Maria Stewart’s contribution?

Answer 13

Other African American abolitionists called for stronger measures. In An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, David Walker encouraged enslaved African Americans to free themselves by any means necessary. Walker’s friend Maria Stewart also spoke out against slavery. Stewart was the first American woman to make public political speeches.

Question 14

What contributions did Frederick Douglass make? What was his past like, before he became a leader?

Answer 14

The best-known African American abolitionist was Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland. As a child, he defied the slave codes by learning to read. Douglass escaped in 1838 and made his way to New England. One day at an antislavery meeting, he felt a powerful urge to speak. Rising to his feet, he talked about the sorrows of slavery and the meaning of freedom. The audience was moved to tears. Soon, Douglass was lecturing across the United States and Britain. In 1847, he began publishing an antislavery newspaper, the North Star.

Question 15

What contribution did William Lloyd Garrison make to end slavery? Who were come members of the New England AntiSlavery Society?

Answer 15

The most outspoken white abolitionist was a fiery young man named William Lloyd Garrison. To Garrison, slavery was an evil to be ended immediately. In 1831, Garrison launched The Liberator , the most influential antislavery newspaper. On the first page of the first issue, Garrison revealed his commitment:

I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. … I am in earnest. … I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I WILL BE HEARD.

—William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, January 1831

A year later, Garrison helped to found the New England AntiSlavery Society. Members included Theodore Weld, a young minister and follower of Charles Grandison Finney. Weld brought the energy of a religious revival to antislavery meetings.

Question 16

What contribution were made by the Grimke sisters to end slavery? How did they influence women’s rights?

Answer 16

Angelina and Sarah Grimké were the daughters of a South Carolina slaveholder. Hating slavery, they moved to Philadelphia to work for abolition. Their lectures drew large crowds. Some people, including other abolitionists, objected to women speaking out in public. “Whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do,” replied Sarah Grimké, “it is morally right for a woman to do.” As you will see, this belief helped spark a crusade for women’s rights.

Question 17

What was the Underground Railroad? Who was Harriet Tubman? What were her contributions?

Answer 17

Some abolitionists formed the Underground Railroad. It was not a real railroad, but a network of black and white abolitionists who secretly helped enslaved African Americans escape to freedom in the North or Canada.
“Conductors” guided runaways to “stations” where they could spend the night. Some stations were homes of abolitionists. Others were churches or even caves. Conductors sometimes hid runaways under loads of hay in wagons with false bottoms. It was illegal to help enslaved African Americans to escape, but these conductors felt strongly about disobeying laws they considered unjust. Such acts of civil disobedience led thousands of enslaved people to freedom. One daring conductor, Harriet Tubman, had escaped slavery herself. She felt deeply committed to freeing others from slavery. Risking her freedom and her life, Tubman returned to the South 19 times. She led more than 300 enslaved African Americans, including her parents, to freedom. Those who admired Tubman’s civil disobedience called her the “Black Moses” after the biblical leader who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Slave owners offered a $40,000 reward for her capture.

Question 18

What were the contributions made by Harriet Beecher Stowe to end slavery? What was the influence of his book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”?

Answer 18

In 1852, a writer named Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel describing the suffering of enslaved African Americans. The novel’s characters were often unrealistic and stereotyped, or based on inaccurate assumptions and beliefs about supposed characteristics of African Americans. However, the novel sold widely and convinced many northerners during the 1850s that slavery was evil and should be outlawed. As abolitionism spread during the 1850s, it had a powerful impact on the United States. It increased tensions between the North and the South and helped set the stage for the Civil War.

Question 19

Remember: By the mid-1800s, slavery existed only in the South. Still, abolitionists like Douglass and Garrison made enemies in the North as well.

Answer 19

By the mid-1800s, slavery existed only in the South. Still, abolitionists like Douglass and Garrison made enemies in the North as well.

Question 20

Which Northerners were against abolition? What did they do to protest against abolition?

Answer 20

As you have learned, abolitionists were one interest group in the controversy over slavery. Their view was that slavery had to end. However, northern mill owners, bankers, and merchants depended on cotton from the South. Some saw attacks on slavery as a threat to their livelihood. Some northern workers also opposed abolition. They feared that African Americans might come north and take their jobs by working for low pay. These groups in the North took the view that slavery should be left up to individual states. Because few southerners opposed slavery, their view was that slavery should be allowed to continue. In northern cities, mobs sometimes broke up antislavery meetings or attacked homes of abolitionists. At times, the attacks backfired and won support for the abolitionists. One night, a Boston mob dragged William Lloyd Garrison through the streets at the end of a rope. A witness wrote, “I am an abolitionist from this very moment.”

Question 21

How was the fight for slavery to continue in the South like?

Answer 21

Most white southerners were disturbed by the growing abolitionist movement. Because the southern economy depended on slavery, southerners strongly supported slavery, even if they were not slave owners personally. They accused abolitionists of preaching violence. Many southerners blamed Nat Turner’s rebellion on William Lloyd Garrison, who had founded The Liberator only a few months earlier. David Walker’s call for a slave revolt seemed to confirm the worst fears of southerners.
Slave owners responded to the abolitionist crusade by defending slavery even more. If enslaved African Americans were treated well, wrote one slave owner, they would “love their master and serve him … faithfully.” Others argued that enslaved African Americans were better off than northern workers who labored long hours in dusty, airless factories. Even some southerners who owned no enslaved African Americans defended slavery. To them, slavery was essential to the southern economy. Many southerners believed northern support for the antislavery movement was stronger than it really was. They began to fear that northerners wanted to destroy their way of life.