Transcript Successes and Failures of the Abolition Movement

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 AntiSlavery 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 shortlived 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.