1830s

Some Americans that had opposed slavery for years began organizing a movement to support a complete end to slavery in the United States.

-Abolitionists came from a variety of backgrounds and each opposed slavery for different reasons. -Some abolitionists sought immediate emancipation, or freedom from slavery, for all enslaved African Americans

1831  Nat Turner’s Rebellion took place Led By Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed white people, the highest number of fatalities caused by slave uprisings in the South.

William Lloyd Garrison  First published an antislavery newspaper  Then in 1833, Garrison helped found and later became president of American Anti-Slavery Society.

1817  Minister Robert Finley started the American Colonization Society, which then established the colony of Liberia of Africa’s west coast in Many abolitionists who had supported colonization had later turned against it.

The Grimke Sisters  They became some of the best known anti- slavery activists even though they were a slave holding family.  They rejected their parents support of slavery and moved to Philadelphia to join the movement. Angelina and Sarah Grimke

1836  Angelina Grimke attempted to bring white Southern women to the anti-slavery cause through her pamphlet Appeal to the Christian Women of the South.

As a result of the pamphlet’s popularity in the North, the sisters became the first female members of the American Anti- Slavery Society. The sisters then toured New England, delivering lectures and forming dozens of anti-slavery societies.

1839  The Grimke Sisters joined Angelina’s husband, Minister Theodore Weld, to produce American Slavery As It Is, one of the most important publications of the period.

Theodore Weld Angelina’s Husband American Slavery As It Is publication

 The U.S. House of Representatives used a “gag rule” to prohibit discussion about anti-slavery petitions sent to Congress.  This rule, which violated the First Amendment right to petition, had both Northern and Southern Congressman opposing the debate about slavery or just simply avoiding it.

1857 Harriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl (one of the few to be written by a women) and William Wells wrote an anti-slavery play as well as a personal narrative called Clotel to get others to support the cause.

 At the same time that abolitionists fought for emancipation, many white people in both the North and South strongly supported slavery – some for economic reasons, while others held racist beliefs.  White Industrial workers believed that freed slaves would take available jobs away from white people.

Afterwards… The influence of abolition also led many women to become active in the Women’s Right Movement of the mid 1800s