Abolitionist Movement Research Paper

Abolitionism in the US was the movement before and during the Civil War to end slavery. Abolitionism was a successful attempt to end people trading slaves and to free them. Most abolitionists thought that keeping slaves and torturing them was a sin and was wrong, because some masters didn't treat them as humans should be treated. Many different important figures helped this movement such as speakers like Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips, and Lucy Stone. William Garrison also was a big activist, Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation, Dred Scott and his famous court case, and former slave, Harriet Tubman also creating the Underground Railroad. Women were involved in the movement too, from the beginning to end. They joined as organizers and

At the convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, the people there supported the nomination of a woman abolitionist to work on the committee. Some abolitionists walked out, because they didn’t think women should be in the committee. They formed the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, which didn’t allow women into the group. In 1837, 71 representatives held the first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women in New York. They made articles in the newspapers, formed other different committees, and created a campaign to collect one million signatures on antislavery petitions. Since women couldn’t vote, petitioning was their way of ‘voting. There were some women who spoke publicly, they would travel as speakers for the American Anti-Slavery Society. The first women speakers were sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimké. They wrote and spoke about the life and hardships of woman and

She published more than 25 books, but that was her best-selling book. Stowe liked to think her book could make a positive difference, and a lot of people agreed. Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1851 in the abolitionist newspaper, ‘The National Era.’ The book showed how slavery effected families, and it helped readers understand enslaved characters. Stowe's characters talked about the causes of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, the future of freedom, and racism. Uncle Tom's Cabin added to the war by showing the economic arguments about slavery. Stowe's writing inspired people in a way that speeches and other books could not inspire. Some supporters thought the book wasn’t solid enough to end slavery. They didn’t like her support of the colonization movement, and felt that Stowe's main character Tom wasn’t aggressive enough. More anti-slavery supporters praised the book for showing the impact slavery had on families and mothers. Pro-slavery supporters said that slavery was practiced in the Bible, and accused her of telling dramatic things. Stowe responded to the negativity by writing The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her second anti-slavery novel, Dred, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, was more influential to other non-supporters.The Underground Railroad was a secret tactic organized by people who helped men, women, and children escape from slavery. It ran before the Civil War and it wasn’t underground or a