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The American Abolitionist Movemrnt as it developed was led by a number of agitators as well as more moderate anti-slavery spokesmen. The list includes clergymen, authors, newspaper editors, politicans, and others. William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. He played a central role in founding and promoting the movement. Noted authors John Greenleaf Whittier and Harriet Beecher Stowe became influential. Stowe was the authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the single most important anti-slavery book and perhaps the mosdt influential book in American history. The abolitionist movement was the first political effort in which women played a major role. Former slaves also had some influence, especially Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth.
John Quincey Adama was the son of President John Adams and won the presidency on his own (1924). Adams had striong abolitionisdt views, but as a presidentisl candidate could not express them. Only after losing to General Jackson (1828), could he more forcefully express his abolitiinist views. He became a vervent spokesman against slavery in the House of Representatives. He was known for his opposition to slavery and promotion of women's sufferage.
Henry Ward Beecher was one of the most important church spokeman against slavery. Hariet Beecher Stowe was his sister. He staged mock slave auctions to publicize the inhumnity of slaerry. He was ordained a New School Presbeterian Minister (1838). He preeched in Indiana where perfected his deamaric oritorical style. e preeched at the Plymouth Church binnBrooklyn. He wrote anti-slavery pamplets and newspaper articles. He condemned the Fugative Slave Law enacted as part of the Comprimise of 1850. He urged Free Soolers to go to Ksnsas to fight ahgaist the expansion of slaverry and helped rise money. The rifles purchased became jnown as Needcher;'s Bibles. After the outbreak of Civil War he preched in England to hostile British audiences. In America he advocated emancipation at a time that President Lincoln wisely hesitated to act, emphasizing preservation of the Union. He published newspapers during and after the War and iknaddition to promoting civil rights for blacks, endorsed womqan sufferage.
John Brown emerged from the guerrilla fihting in "Bleeding Kansas" as an individual willing to act and not just talk. He was determined to end slavery and was convined that it could not be done peacefully. Brown obtained clandestine financial support from various radical anti-slavery groups. Brown after Kansas moved into the Southern Appalachians (1857). He set up a base there and recruited a small company of men. Af first there activities focused on assisting runaways reach Pennsylvania and Ohio. Grafually a much more grandiose plan to launch a lave revolt. It was to be set off by seizing the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry (October 1859). Brown did nanage to seize Harper's Ferry, but there was no slave uprising. And soon a detachment of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee reahed Harper's Ferry. Brown and his conspirators were arrested and after a trial hung. While Brown's rebellion failed he succeeded more than he knew. His action although quickly suppressed convinced large numbers of southerners that there was no longer any place for them in the Federal Union.
Maria Weston Chapman was one of the Garisonians who played an importat role in the American Anti-Slavery Society. She becae the Society's most successful propagandists. She also operated the Society's main office in Boston.
Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Francis Child was born Lydia Maria Francis. She was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, critic of American expansionism, Indian rights activist, novelist, and journalist. She edited the Garrisonians' official newspaper for nearly 2 years.
Former slaves also had some influence, especially Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was an influential spokesman for abolition in the years leading up to the Civil War. He was born ninto slavery. His mother was a slaver. His father was an unknown white man. He grew up in Maryland. His name was that of his owner. He learned to read despite Maryland laws prohibiting the education of slaves. (All slave states had similar laws.) After several failed attempts, when he was 21 years old he reached New York and freedom (1838). He settled in New Bedfors, Massachusetts, working as a laborer. His voice and ciommanding presence made him a popular speaker for the Masachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, but public visability meant that his ststus as a 'run away' might be didcovered. He published his autibiography, Narrative (1845). His biograpohy provides a revealing look at the lives of slaves, including how slaves were treated and dressed. It should be remembered that he was not a plantation slave in the deep South. This increased his vunerability. The earmings, however, enabled him to purchase his freedom (1847). Douglass was a brilliant orator and with his first hand experiences, he became a noted speaker or the American Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass bagan publishing the antislavery paper, The North Star. setting out hios ideas which often varied from those of his white abolitionist associates. He supported woman sufferage. After the Civil War began, he helped recruit tgwo black regiments. Douglass advised President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and pushed for first abolition and then constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil liberties for freed blacks. Douglass provided a stirring voice for human rights and is words are still a powerful inditement of racial bigotry and injustice.
Ralph Waldo Emrerson is one of America's greatest poets. He graduated friom Garvard (1821). He entered the Unitarian ministry (1826). He quarled with the Church in theological issues. He taveled in Europe(1832) wher he met Colridge, Carlyle, and Wordsworth. This helped redirect his life toward tranbsendeltaism and poetry. He was one of the influential Americans who by mid-century began to see slavery as the central moral issue facing America. It was part of the shift in aboloionism/anti-slavery from a fringe movement to a widely held view in the North. This shift, especially by respected figures like Emerson and Thoreau, was not only important because what it tells us about northerners, but also why southerners increasingly began to support srcession and separation. His lectures incereasingly addressed the evils of slavery (1850s). He like Thoreau defended John Brown (1859). This should not be ignored as a footnote of history. Brown's raid was quickly put down by U.S. Marines. But the fact that respected figures like Emerson and Thoreau would support Brown probably caused more outrage in the South than the raid itself, causing many southeners to support secession.
BNoston mewspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. He played a central role in founding and promoting the movement. His father was a seaman. William was born in Newburyport Massachusetts (1805) where he was raised. As a boy he was apprenticed to a printer. After a few years he became the editor of the Newburyport Herald (1824). He became the the editor of the more important National Philanthropist in Boston (1828). About this time he met Benjamin Lundy, the Quaker anti-slavery editor of the Genius of Universal Emancipation. Soon after he became the co-editor with Lundy of the Genius (1829). Abolitionist was a still very controiversial issue, even in Boston at the time. Garrison wrote an article criticising a Bodton merchant involved in the slave-trade. As aresult he was arrested and imprisoned for libel. He was Released (June 1830), but emerged even more determined pursue a crusade against slavery. At first he shared Lundy's belief in gradual emancipation, but after contemplating on ther issue in prison, he adopted a more radical comitment to abolition. He advocated "immediate and complete emancipation of all slaves". Fivision among the abolitionists would prove to be a ersistent weakness. Garrison donded his own abti-slavery newspaper in Boston, the Liberator. The newspaper's motto was: "Our country is the world - our countrymen are mankind," inspired by Revolutiozny figure Thomas Paine. At first Garrison adopted the strategy of a church-based moral suasion. Gradually Garrison began to reconsider the approach of moral suasion. Many abolitionists followed Garrison's lead. Garrison began to abandon the nain-line churches, convinced that they were corrupted by slavery. Garrisonian insisted that his supporters should refuse to vote as a way of registering their disapproval ro what he described as America's "proslavery" Constitution. Garrison championed other moral reforms, including temperance, pacifism, and women's rights. Garrison led the American Anti-Slavery Society to non-resistant political practices. He took the position that the Union with slave states should be disolved. Garrison experiment with dramatic new propaganda techniques in an effort to reach the Northern conscience. Women had important roles in the American Anti-Slavery Society after the split with the anti-feminiss (1840).
Hanibal Hamlin was a force in Maine politics. He was a strong Jscksonian Democrat. He was a lawyer in Hampden, Maine. He served several nterms in the state legislature.bbHe was elected to Ciongress (1842) and to the Senate (1848). He left the Democratic Party and joined the Republicana because of his opposition to slavery (1856). He was elected givernor, but decided to return to the Senate to pursue the fight against slavery. The Republicans nominated to run with Lincoln as vice president (1861). He was less cautious than Lincoln on the issue of slavery and began criticising the Oresident's cautious policies (1863). As a result, he was replaced on the Republican ticket with Senatot Andrew Jackson from Tennessee--a inity ticket. He was reelected to the Senate (1866).
Charles Sumner was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts (1851). He joined the growing Congressional force opposed to slavery. He described his vocation as 'morals, no poltics'. The Fugitive Slave Act was already passed when he arrived and he riouundly criticised it. He opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but could not prevent its passage. He addressed the Senate without inhibition or moderation. He called the Kansas-Nebrasla Act a 'swindle' and 'rape'. He described Stephen Douglas, one of the leading figures in the Senaste as a 'noisome, squat and nameless animal'. This kind of retorit in the Senate resulted in one of the most infamous attacks in the body's history. After Sumner tore into Senator Andrew Butler for embracikng 'the harlot, slavery', Butler's nephew beat Sunmer senless with a can on the floor of the Senate. Sumner was badly injured and for 3 years rarely appeared in the Senate. He did return to the Senate and his speeches ahainst slavery and slave holders were none diminished. He wisely advised President Lincoln to defuse the Trent inciden5 with Brirain. After the War he championed a hard peace and civil rights for blacks, including the vote. He supported the use of Federal force to protect the freed slaves in the South. And when President Johnson opposed this, he supported the effort to impeach Johnson.
The most important ante-bellum (pre-War work) asbolitionist publication was Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Stowe was virtually unknown when she wrote the book. She was born in Connecticut (1832). Her brother was Henry Ward Beecher, one of the most noted American abolitionist. Hariet moved to Cincinatti and married Calvin E. Stowe, a theology professor (1832). She returned to New England after her husband obtained at appointment to Bowdoin College (1850). Her sister-in-law encouraged her to "write something that would make this whole nationfeel wjat an accursed thing slavery is." Harriet was was influenced by the experiences of two teenage Maryland slave girls, Emily and Mary Edmonson, who were rescued from being sold as "fancy girls" to New Orleans bordellos. She completed her work (1851) and it was published the next year. It was an immediate successes. It electrified northern audiences. State authorities in the South prevented its distribution. There were 0.3 million copies sold in America that first year. Pirated copies were sold in Europe. The story of Eliza , Topsy, Uncle Tom, and Simon Legree electrified northern readers and theatergoers, affecting northern attitudes toward slavery. While a melodramatic account, it is arguably the single most important book in American history. The abolitionist movement existed before her book, but it was an often criticised movemnent, seen as imporal or even treasonous by many in the North. The book had the impact of legitmizing the movement. Abolitionists were still a minority in the North, but they were no longer an out-cast minority. And slavery and slave owners was increasingly see as imoral, even among northerners who were not abolitionists. Thus whoile the book did not create a great demand for abolition in the North, it did generate increased support in the South for secessiion from a Union which increasingly viewed slave owners as immoral. And Stowe's book appeared just as the anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats were beginnning to form the new Republican Party. Stowe wrote many more books, including Dred, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856). But it was her first book for which she is chiefly remembered. When President Lincoln met Stow, he remarked, "So you are the little lady who started this great war." (1863)
Two prominent and very pious New York City evangelical merchants, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, provided the funding William Lloyd Garrison needed for his Boston paper--The Liberator. The Tappan brothers played an important role in the founding the American Anti-Slavery Society (AA-SS) (1833). The first president was Arthur Tappan. He abd his briother helped fund the AA-SS, actgively recruited, oversaw the distribution of anti-slavery tracts, hired newspaper editors, and helped found chapters. Arthur Tappan energetically support the cause of of Joseph Cinque, leader of the captured mutineers on the Amistad (1839). The Supreme Court eventually set them free. The Tappans saw that steam powered printing press made possible mass mailing. They proceeded to send abolitionist tracts through the U.S. mail to opinion leaders in Southern states. Mny of the tracts were seized and burned in Charleston. President Jackson taciitly encourage postmasters to intercept the flyers. And he ecouraged Congress to outlaw them.
Henry David Thoreau is best known for his trancendentalist masterpiece--Walden. He graduated from Harvard (1837). He lived with Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841-43). It was here that he became acqauinted with transcendentalism. He secluded himself at Walden Pomd (1845-47). He pubklished his great work (1854). He was also a life-long opponent of slavery. To protest both the Mexican War and slavery he refused to pay the state poll tax. He was arrested an wrote another classic piece--Civil Disobedience. He became a popular lecturer and focused on the evils of slavery (1850s). He soke in defense of John Brown after the Harper's Ferry raid (1859).
Sojourner Truth was born a slave in New York (about 1797). Her name was Isabella Baumfree. Her last name was that ofher father's owner. She had several different owners. While owned by the John Dumont family in Ulster County, she married Thomas who was also owned by Dumont. She had five children with Thomas. New York state emancipated all remaining slaves (1827). Even before that, Isabella had left Thomas and run away with her youngest child. She found work with the family of Isaac Van Wagenen. While with the Van Wagenens, she learned thst the Dumont family had sold one of her children to an owner in Alabama. Isabella brought suit and was able to get him returned to New York as the boy had been a free mab under New York law at the time he was sold.
Isabella underwent a religious conversion and moved to New York City where she joined a Methodist perfectionist commune. Here a religious prophet named Mathias was the dominant force. The commune eventally disolved along with scabdelous allegations of mot only sexual improprieties, but also murder. Isabella was personally accused of poisoning. She brought suit for libel and won. She found work as a household domestic. As the abolitiomist movement became nore established, she took the mane foir which she is known today (1843). She recounts instructions from the Holy Spirit and became a traveling preacher. She proived to be an effective speaker. She also began speaking on woman suffrage (1850). Her best knoewn speech was "Ain't I a Woman?" which she delivered at a women's rights convention in Ohio. She met Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote an article about her in the Atlantic Monthly as well as a new introduction to Truth's autobiography, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. The Atlantic Monthly was one of the most important publications in America. This helped make her a natioinazlly recognized figure.
Noted poet John Greenleaf Whittier was an active abolitionist. Whittier was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts to a Quaker family (1807).
A teacher introduced him to poetry at a young age. He was especially impressed with Robert burns and began to write poetry himself. His first poem was published in the Newburyport Free Press (1826). The editor was William Lloyd Garrison, the leading American abolitionist. Whittier who was a Quaker became a passionate abolitionist. He worked on newspapers in Boston and Hartford as well as with ther Atlantic Monthly Magazine. He was involved in a wide range of abolitionist activites. Primarily because of his anti-slavery commitment, he participated in the foundation of the Republican Party.
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