Lecture: Development of the Abolition Movement in the 19th Century

Overview

• Focus: Organized abolition movement in the 19th century.
• Themes: Successful strategies, internal divisions within the movement.

Early Anti-Slavery Sentiments

• Existed throughout the colonial period.
• Heightened by the Great Awakening's influence.
• Quakers and Methodists condemned slavery, excluding slaveholders from congregations.
• Slavery clashed with republican ideals and natural rights, foundational to the republic.

Early Abolition Organizations

• New York Manumission Society (1785): First formal organization pushing for the end of slavery.
  • Founders: Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.
• American Colonization Society: First national organization.
  • Goals: Peaceful end to slavery, resettlement of freed slaves in Africa.
  • Established Liberia as a territory and then an independent state (1847).
  • Decline: Post-Nat Turner Rebellion (1831).

Influence of the Second Great Awakening

• Reform movement impacts abolition in the 1830s.
• William Lloyd Garrison: Radical abolitionist.
  • Founded abolition newspaper and American Anti-Slavery Society.
  • Advocated for immediate end to slavery, criticized American government.
  • Use of women and free blacks as public speakers.
  • Radical approach alienated moderates, causing movement split post-1840.

Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad

• Fugitive slaves became a unifying symbol for the movement.
• Narratives: Powerful tools showing cruelty of slavery and potential of freed slaves.
• Underground Railroad: Secretive system assisting fugitive slaves.
  • Conductors: Abolitionists, free blacks, Native Americans, fugitive slaves.
  • Significant routes through New York state.
  • Harriet Tubman: Key figure, repeatedly returned to guide escapees.

Prominent Figures and Literature

• Frederick Douglass: Influential fugitive slave and abolitionist leader.
  • Published influential newspapers and autobiography.
  • Based in Rochester, NY.
• Harriet Jacobs & Harriet Tubman: Escaped slaves contributing to movement.
• Solomon Northup: Free man kidnapped into slavery, later freed.
• "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe: Influential anti-slavery literature.
  • Portrayed humanity of slaves, inhumanity of slavery.

Political Developments

• Anti-slavery literature became widespread by the 1850s.
• Liberty Party & Free Soil Party: Early political efforts focused on anti-slavery.
  • Free Soil Party emphasized 'free soil' and 'free labor'.
• Republican Party Formation: Emerged from these efforts, dedicated to stopping slavery expansion.