19th Century American Abolitionism

747 Words2 Pages

The forced movement of Africans to the United States during the time of slavery involved a probable 472,000 Africans who were forcefully removed from the African continent. About 85,000 passed away due to disease or starvation: almost 14,000 died on the sea journey undertaken by slave ships from West Africa to the West Indies. Approximately 386,000 Africans succeeded to arrive in the U.S. approximately between the 1750-1860s, averaging 35,000 Africans per decade. African slaves were highly concentrated in the eastern most area of the United States where they originally were sold and traded. As a whole, the slave trade displaced approximately 12.5 million Africans, with about 10,650,000 making it through the voyage, meaning that the United States …show more content…

Notably, the Revolution watched the surfacing of the first abolitionist organizations to be able to counter any state or federal decisions involving abolitionism. American abolitionists wanted to change the U.S. Constitution by appealing to the US Congress to adopt procedures against slavery and the slave trade. Abolitionist highly unsatisfied in their determinations to get Congress to apply a federal prohibition on the slave trade. The most supported reason on why Americans opposed slavery around the 19th century is because they started to realize in what circumstances the Africans where put into, not only morally but also ethically incorrect. The slave trade was abolished around forty years before slavery itself because of the clear detail and facts that the public protested to the circumstances of slave ships, to rash deaths, and to the separation of families, before it became unfriendly to the rather more conceptual issue of enslaving people and considering your …show more content…

government had a big role throughout the time where abolition started to be enforced. Thanks to the publics pressure on Congress they were able to pass several acts in the protection of those who are victims to those involved within slavery. The most remarkable acts are the ones established in 1807, 1818, 1819, and 1820, all with one purpose to have an end to it all. The act of 1807 was designed to stop American involvement in the trade. And served as a deterrent to the public due to the hefty fines and punishments for those who violated the act. For those who didn’t cooperate challenged the government that if they were free where would they go? The government didn’t have a clear reply to that because slaves where still viewed as pests if left in the United States. The government did very little in enforcing this due to the lack of support on where to release the enslaved. In the act of 1818 was practically an addition to the act of 1807. They managed to lower the fines and punishments of those who violated the act of 1807 but where able to add another restriction on the slave trade and sale. They added that only slaves that could be sold and bought had to have paperwork or evidence proving where they got the slave and was brought 5 years before the act of 1807 was established. Meaning that the import of new Africans was banned and those who are within the five years have the protection of the government. In the act of 1819 gave the US government the ability to

Open Document