Section 2: The Antislavery Movement

South banned antislavery publications & made it illegal to teach slaves how to read

Earliest came from the Mennonites in 1688

1700’s several societies appeared in the north & south 1777-1807, every state north of Maryland passed laws that gradually abolished slavery

Legal importing of slaves ended in 1808

Antislavery newspaper The Genius of Universal Emancipation Favored stoppage of slavery in new states

Some people favored a program to send free blacks & emancipated slaves to Africa Founded the American Colonization Society in 1817

Plan offended most African Americans

Considered themselves Americans By 1831 only 1,400 immigrated Radical Abolitionism

William Lloyd Garrison Published The Liberator Founded the American Antislavery Society By 1835 had 150,000 members

One of the most popular speakers & a key leader of the American Antislavery Society

Sent to be a house slave in Maryland at 8

Owners wife tutored him Eventually forbade, he taught himself

17- sent to a “slave breaker” One day he fought back 1838- escaped to New Bedford, Mass.

Wrote his biography, Life & Times of Frederick Douglass

Published an abolitionist newspaper, The North Star

Division over women’s participation Garrison insisted women be allowed to speak Some members resigned in protest

Divisions over race For Africans the movement was personal Some felt inferior to the whites

Douglass broke with Garrison & founded his own paper

Division over tactics Garrison believed the Constitution supported slavery

A Dangerous Operation Railroad- paths the slaves traveled either on foot or in wagons across the north/south border & into Canada

Underground- carried out in secret on dark nights

“Conductors” gave them money, supplies, & medical attention

Harriet Tubman African Americans some with family & friends still enslaves made up the majority of conductors

Escaped slave herself

Rescued more than 300 slaves

Nicknamed “the Black Moses”

The River Route Mississippi River using a riverboat

Dangerous because of slave hunters

Through the Eastern Swamps Faced hazards such as poisonous snakes & disease bearing mosquitoes

The Mountain Route Appalachian Mountains

2 reasons Forests & limestone caves sheltered fugitives

Acts as a barrier for western runaways

Ohio, Pa, Ind.- safe places Southern Illinois was more dangerous Remained proslavery

Slave owners offered a $40,000 reward for the capture of Harriet Tubman

Opposition in the north Worried it would sour relations between north & south, harm trade

Feared competition for lower wages

Eventually turned violent Mob assaulted Garrison & paraded him around Boston with a rope around his neck

Abolitionist building burnt down in Philadelphia

Alton, Illinois- Elijah Lovejoy wrote editorials denouncing slavery Printing press destroyed many times

He was shot & killed trying to defend it

1830’s became dangerous & rare for southerners to speak out in favor of freeing the slaves

Southerners in Congress passed the gag rule