Abolition Movement

Ideas and Leaders

The daily life of slaves.• Living Conditions – large families

in one-room cabins; unbalanced

diets, no running water or poor

sanitation

• Some slaves became artisans

• Allowed to marry and have

children

• Many subjected to Cruel

Punishments and denied basic

human rights

• Could be sold and separated

from family at anytime.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion• August 1831 in Southampton

County, Virginia

• Nat Turner, a black religious

leader led 70-75 slaves on attack

• They killed 60 whites, including

men, women, and children

• Spread fear among slave owners

– States passed stricter laws

controlling activities of free and

enslaved blacks

ABOLITIONwhen a law or a system is officially ended

• Principles behind Abolition Movement

oPolitical – “All men are created equal”

oReligious – equal in the eyes of God

• Abolitionists wanted the immediate,

emancipation of all slaves.

• Involved men and women

Who Were the Abolitionists?

Frederick Douglas• Escaped from slavery at age

20

• Wrote 3 autobiographies

• Published anti-slavery

newspaper, The North Star

• Toured the North giving

speeches and appearing at

public anti-slavery events.

• Supported Women’s Rights

Movement

Frederick Douglass

William Lloyd Garrison

• From Boston

• Published The Liberator,

1831

• Organized New England

Anti-Slavery Society, 1832

• Went to Europe to gain

support for abolition

• Saw slavery as morally

wrong

Harriet Beecher Stowe• Born into a religious family

of Abolitionists

• Wrote the book, Uncle

Tom’s Cabin in 1853 after

meeting runaway slaves

and hearing their

experiences

• Book was a best seller that

made many Americans

aware of the evils of slavery

John Quincy Adams

• In 1836, Congress passes the

GAG RULE – preventing any

bills restricting or ending

slavery

• Q. Adams fought against the

gag rule calling it

unconstitutional.

• The gag rule was finally

suspended in 1844

Harriet Tubman

• Most famous “Conductor” of the

Underground Railroad

• After escaping herself, she made 19

separate trips back to the South and

helped about 300 slaves escape to

freedom

– She was called “Mama Moses”

• She served as a spy for the Union

during the Civil War

Underground Railroad• Secret network of abolitionists who worked

together to help runaway slaves reach freedom in

the North or in Canada

• Runaways would travel 10-20 miles before they

reached the next “station” which would be

houses, barns, or cellars of white or free black

people who chose to help them escape.

• They would be helped along the routes by people

like Harriet Tubman, called “conductors”