Abolition movement

Abolition movement

Antislavery activity in the United States began in colonial days. During the 1680's, Quakers in Pennsylvania condemned slavery on moral grounds. The American Colonization Society, founded in 1816, led antislavery protests during the early 1800's. It tried to send freed slaves to Liberia in Africa. The abolitionist Elihu Embree published the first periodicals devoted wholly to the abolition of slavery. He established a weekly newspaper in Jonesborough, Tenn., in 1819 and a monthly publication, The Emancipator, which appeared in 1820. In 1831, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison began publication of his newspaper, The Liberator. Garrison demanded immediate freedom for slaves. The American Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1833, supported Garrison's crusade. The abolition movement gradually spread throughout the Northern States despite bitter and violent opposition by Southern slaveholders, Northerners who favored slavery, and Northerners who opposed slavery but feared the abolitionist movement would divide the country. In 1837, a mob murdered Elijah P. Lovejoy, a newspaper editor from Alton, Illinois, who had published antislavery editorials.

Many famous abolitionists came from New England. Women also played an important role in the abolition movement. Lucretia Mott and the sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimke organized groups and made speeches. Many free blacks also joined the abolitionists. They included James Forten and Robert Purvis, wealthy Philadelphia merchants; Frederick Douglass, a former fugitive slave from Maryland; and Sojourner Truth, a freed slave from New York.

The movement entered a new phase in 1840, when some of its leaders entered politics and founded the Liberty Party. James G. Birney, a former slaveholder born in Kentucky, ran as the party's candidate for president in 1840 and 1844. In 1848, abolitionists became an important element in the Free Soil Party. After 1854, most abolitionists supported the Republican Party.

Even after abolitionists entered politics, they remained more interested in their cause than in political offices. They combined political protest with direct action. Their homes often became stations on the underground railroad, which helped slaves fleeing to the free states or to Canada.

Excerpt adapted from the "Abolition movement" article, The World Book Encyclopedia © 1999