Abolition and the debate over slavery

ABOLITION AND THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY

Americans opposed to slavery began to organize in the 1830s to promote abolition, or the complete end to slavery

Some called for emancipation, or immediate freedom for all slaves

WHO WERE THE ABOLITIONISTS? Religious- Quakers Americans who believed slavery

contradicted the American value of equality

DIFFERENCES AMONGST ABOLITIONISTS What rights should they have once

they’re free? Fear of conflict between different races American Colonization Society:

Founded Liberia on west coast of Africa- 12,000 African Americans settled there

SPREADING THE MESSAGE Speaking tours Newspapers: William L Garrison’s The

Liberator American Anti-Slavery Society: 1833

wanted immediate emancipation and racial equality for African Americans, Garrison was President

Split in 1840

WOMEN IN ABOLITION Grimke sisters: Angelina and Sarah,

their parents were southern slaveholders, they moved to Philadelphia and tried to garner support from other southern women

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN ABOLITION

Frederick Douglass: escaped slavery at 20, taught himself to read and write, great public speaker, published abolitionist newspaper, North Star

Sojourner Truth: gave dramatic speeches Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a

Slave Girl

OPPOSITION TO ABOLITION Fear that free slaves would take northerners jobs House of Representatives refused to discuss

thousands of antislavery petitions, though this was a violation of the 1st amendment

Southerners believed slavery was vital to the economy Some whites argued slavery actually protected African Americans- They would “freeze or starve” in the North

THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY Think back to the Mexican War- we

gained 500,000 sq. miles. What’s the issue?

Missouri Compromise only applied to the Louisiana Purchase. What about the Mexican Cession?

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Extend 36 30’ line to Pacific No slavery in territory whatsoever-

Wilmot Proviso- This revealed growing sectionalism, when people favor the interests of one region over the country as a whole

Voters in a territory decide whether to ban or allow slavery- Popular Sovereignty

ELECTION OF 1848 Neither Democrats (Lewis Cass) or Whigs (Zachary

Taylor) took clear position on slavery in the west Free-Soil Party supported Wilmot Proviso (no slavery in

territory), Chose Martin Van Buren Whigs won election- Zachary Taylor became President

(*remember when Polk fired him because he was gaining too much popularity in the Mexican War?)

CALIFORNIA Gold rush created population boom CA applied for admission into union Wanted to be a free state This would offset the balance of power

in the senate

COMPROMISE OF 1850 Henry Clay- our “Great Pacificator” pacifies

again 5 part plan:

1. CA enters as free state2. In rest of Mexican Cession, status decided by popular sovereignty3. Solved border dispute between Texas and New Mexico4. End to slave trade in capital5. More effective Fugitive Slave Law

REACTIONS TO COMPROMISE OF 1850

John C. Calhoun: allowing CA admission as a free state would offset balance in the Senate and southern states would have to secede

Daniel Webster: though he was personally opposed to slavery, he wanted to preserve the union and disapproved of any sectionalism

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT Part of the Compromise of

1850 It became a federal crime to

help runaway slaves Officials could arrest

runaways in areas where slavery was illegal

Slaveholders could take suspected fugitive slaves before commissioners and prove they were the owner through documents or witnesses

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN Anti-slavery novel written by abolitionist Harriet

Beecher Stowe in response to the Fugitive Slave Act Helped fuel the abolitionist cause 2nd best-selling book of 19th century, after the Bible