The Antislavery Movement

The Antislavery MovementChapter 8 Section 3Slavery Considered an American institution since colonial timesGrowth of cotton farming need for slaves grewSuffered cruel treatment Beatings, whipping, maiming, mental punishment (humiliation), threat of being separated from familySeparation from family slaves soldLife Under SlaverySeparation of Families

Some slaves took their own livesSome slaves dealt with pain and suffering dailyMost slaves maintained their dignity and hopeKeeping ties with family and friendsFamily traditions kept aliveFamily storiesTook comfort in their religion (mix of traditional African and Christian beliefs)Trying to SurviveSabotageBreaking tools, outwitting overseers, escapeFled to the North or MexicoUnderground RailroadRevolts ResistanceDenmark Vesey, 1822FreedmanSecond-rate citizen Charleston, SCEventually hangedDenmark VeseyNat Turner, 1831Taught himself to read the BibleAugust 1831, near Richmond, VALater executed

As a result, southerners became fearfulStricter laws passedLegality of literacyRevolts inspired Northerners to work against slaveryNat TurnerHow did enslaved people resist their captivity?QuestionNorthern states had outlawed slavery by the 1840sME and VA slowly freeing slavesFreed slaves still dealt with racial discriminationAmerican Colonization Society (ACS)David Walker (free African American)

The Lives of Free African Americans

Go Down, MosesWhat is the story of Moses?

How did the African Americans relate to the story of Moses?

Who did the Pharaoh represent?

In what way did African American spirituals combine African and European influences to create something new?

Why do you think few African American spirituals survive in their original forms?

Go Down, Moses1804, all states north of MD passed legislation to end slavery1807, bringing any new slaves from Africa bannedAbolition MovementThe Fight Against Slavery

Printer in Boston, MABegan antislavery career working for Benjamin LundyLundy published 1st antislavery newspaperThe Liberator Garrisons newspaperMoral suasion In favor of emancipation1833, American Anti-Slavery SocietyWilliam Lloyd GarrisonWilliam Lloyd Garrison

Started The Liberator antislavery newspaperTheodore WeldLane Theological Seminary in OHMarried Angelina GrimkSarah GrimkFrederick DouglassDavid WalkerAbolitionistsAbolitionistsTheodore WeldAngelina Grimk

AbolitionistsSarah Grimk

Frederick Douglass

Despite abolitionist efforts; most Americans continued to support slaverySoutherners claim slavery is necessary due to Southern agricultural economyClaim North also dependent due to textile and shipping industriesClaim that Christianity supported slavery (inevitable)Refusal in south to read abolitionist newspapers Working Against AbolitionMost northerners agreed with southerners about slaveryGrimk-Weld weddingTension locals burn down antislavery meeting hallFear that end of slavery would end supply of southern cottonGag Rule, 1836 renewed annually for 8 years

Northerners Resist AbolitionAbolition movement small and mostly confined to NorthVocal and persistentWidened regional cultural differences between largely urban and industrialized North and the largely rural and agricultural SouthDivided countrySlavery Divides Nation