Successes and Failures of the Abolition Movement

Successes of the Abolition Movement Black service in American armies during the revolution, black abolitionist petitions for emancipation, and the actions of white antislavery societies, motivated all of the Northern states by 1804 either to end slavery within their borders or to provide for its gradual abolition.

Successes of the Abolition Movement In 1787 Congress had banned slavery in the Northwest Territory (a region comprising the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the eastern part of Minnesota)

Successes of the Abolition Movement During the 1780s and 1790s large numbers of slaveholders in the Southern states of Maryland and Virginia freed their slaves.

Successes of the Abolition Movement In 1833 Garrison formed the American Anti- Slavery Society (AASS). It aimed at immediate, uncompensated emancipation and equal rights for blacks. By 1838 the society claimed 1,350 affiliates and 250,000 members. It employed speakers, sent petitions to the U.S. Congress, and mailed abolitionist propaganda into the South. These efforts produced a fierce reaction. North and South, angry white mobs opposed changes in race relations.

Successes of the Abolition Movement The Underground Railroad—the collective name for a variety of regional semisecret networks that helped slaves escape into the North and Canada, probably aided around 1,000 slaves per year in escaping.

Successes of the Abolition Movement In 1854 the opening of Kansas Territory to slavery led to the formation of the even larger Republican Party as the defender of Northern antislavery interests.

Successes of the Abolition Movement In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a forceful indictment of slavery. The book quickly became one of the most popular works of the time, and it was important in spreading antislavery sentiment in the North.

Successes of the Abolition Movement White abolitionist John Brown led a tiny biracial band in a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in October 1859, hoping to spark a slave rebellion. Although Virginia militia and United States troops easily thwarted his plan, Brown’s actions and his subsequent trial and execution aroused great sympathy in the North.

Successes of the Abolition Movement Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, which declared the freedom of slaves within the bounds of the Confederacy.

Successes of the Abolition Movement Northern victory over the South in the Civil War and continuing abolitionist agitation led in December 1865 to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which banned involuntary servitude throughout the country.

Failures of the Abolition Movement Colonization movement aimed at moving black Americans to Africa. Despite early enthusiasm, by the 1810s most African Americans questioned the justice of mass expatriation, coming to the conclusion that it was less a movement to emancipate slaves than an attempt to rid America of its free blacks. Faced with increasing black opposition and the insurmountable logistical difficulties involved in transporting an exponentially rising American slave population to Africa, the ACS had no chance for success.

Failures of the Abolition Movement In 1822 free black Denmark Vesey unsuccessfully conspired to lead a massive slave revolt in Charleston, South Carolina.

Failures of the Abolition Movement In 1829 David Walker of Boston published his inflammatory Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World.

Failures of the Abolition Movement In 1831 Nat Turner launched a short- lived but bloody slave uprising in Virginia.

Failures of the Abolition Movement By the late 1830s, the AASS also faced internal division. The result was the fracturing of the AASS.

Failures of the Abolition Movement White abolitionist John Brown led a tiny biracial band in a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in October 1859, hoping to spark a slave rebellion. Although Virginia militia and United States troops easily thwarted his plan, Brown’s actions and his subsequent trial and execution aroused great sympathy in the North.