Opposing Slavery

Vocabulary

• American Colonization Society – organization in the early 1800s that proposed to end slavery by helping African Americans move to Africa

• Abolitionist – person who wanted to end slavery completely in the United States.

• Underground Railroad – A network of black and white abolitionists who secretly helped slaves escape to freedom in the North or Canada. (But it was not underground, nor was it an actual railroad)

The Abolitionist Movement Begins• An abolitionist is a person

who wanted to end slavery• Religion was a big factor

in starting the abolitionist movement. The bible said that all men were equal in the eyes of God. To many northerners, this included African Americans.

• The American Colonization Society worked to send runaway slaves to Liberia in Africa where they would have their own country. Most runaway slaves refused because they didn’t want to leave their families who were still slaves.

The Abolitionist Movement Begins• The best-known African American

abolitionist was Frederick Douglas. As a child, he defied slave codes and learned how to read. Douglas was a smart man and a passionate speaker.

• William Lloyd Garrison was a well-known white abolitionist. Garrison published The Liberator, one of the most influential antislavery newspapers of the day.

• Angelina and Sarah Grimke were sisters who were raised on a South Carolina plantation that owned many slaves. They believed slavery was wrong so they left their parents plantation and moved north on their own where they started working with abolitionists.

The Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was a network of both black and white abolitionists who secretly helped slaves escape to the north or to Canada. Harriet Tubman, the most famous underground railroad “conductor,” returned to the south 19 times and led more than 300 slaves, including her parents, to freedom.

Not Everyone in the North was an Abolitionist!!

• Not all northerners were against slavery. Northern factory owners depended on the cotton that the slaves provided. Factory workers feared that if slaves became free, they would come north and steal factory jobs.

• Many in the south were outraged at this new abolitionist movement. It looked as though the north was trying to end the southern way of life.

Review

• Describe two ways reformers fought against slavery.

• How did the Underground Railroad work?

• Why did some northerners oppose abolition?