The Work of Three Major Abolitionists: Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown

The modern American abolition movement emerged in the early 1830s as a by-product of religious revivalism popularly known as the Second Great Awakening. Revivalistic tenets led abolitionists to see slavery as the product of sin and to demand emancipation as the price of repentance. A tenet is a principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true; especially one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession. Abolitionists recognized that slavery received moral support from racial prejudice, and they lobbied to overturn the nations racially discriminatory practices. During the 1830s, abolitionists tried to reach and convert a mass audience. The main mission of these people was that they attempted to achieve immediate emancipation of all slaves and the ending of racial segregation and discrimination. Although abolitionist worked together and helped each other there were three that were the most recognizable. These three major abolitionists, Fredrick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and John Brown all helped spark the feud between the North and the South.

Fredrick Douglass, an African-American abolitionist showed his thoughts on slavery through the voice of a former slave. Fredrick Douglass, born, as a slave in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818 was a well-educated abolitionist and one of the very few African-American’s that had the opportunity. Douglass, unlike most slaves was educated as a young man by a Baltimore slave owner’s wife. He turned out to be a tremendous reader and writer and also had a great command of the English Language. Once Douglass had run away

from the terrors of slavery in 1838 he joined various organizations in New Bedford, including black church, and regularly attended abolitionis...

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...way but with blood (on the day of his execution, 1859)’2 . Abolitionist immediately used the action as an example of the government’s support of slavery. John Brown became the hero of the North and the villain of the South because of how he killed slavery supporters. John Brown was definitely one of the main supporters of the abolitionist’s movement.

By the year 1836 had stunned the world with their views on equality. Though many abolitionist had their own sectional interests. They came together as a unit and joined groups that promoted the abolition of slavery. These three courageous men paved a way for African-Americans to start new lives and live under their own rule. The Abolitionist Movement itself was one of the major factors that led to the start of the Civil War because of how men and women like these three spoke out and wrote what they truly believed.