What Was Abolitionism and How Did It Change America?

In the early 1830’s the anti-slavery movement was gaining steam in the United States. Most of the calls to end slavery came from the northern states and some did not like the pace the movement was proceeding and decided that moderation was not the answer. William Lloyd Garrison was one of the most outspoken citizens demanding an immediate end to slavery. The movement would include other people like Fredrick Douglas and Sojourner Truth. Harriet Stowe would write Uncle Tom’s Cabin detailing the horrid conditions slaves lived while Harriet Tubman would become “the most celebrated liberator” (Tindall & Shi, 2010, p.435) of the Underground Railroad. These people would help bring the issue of slavery to a boiling point that would cause the southern states to leave the union and start a civil war.

Slavery was becoming more unpopular within the United States and fierce debates surrounded the expansion westward and if slavery would have any part in the new settlements. The southern states believed that slavery was an absolute necessity to their way of life and they would become very defensive about abolishing the slave trade. The southern Christian churches “had widely condemned slavery at one time” (Tindall & Shi, 2010, p.436) but the influences of the southern culture made the ministers turn pro-slavery. As Tindall & Shi (2010) put it “within one generation such ideas had triumphed in the white south” (p.437). If the culture of slavery was so powerful that it could create a change in religious ideals what could the north do to end slavery?

Early anti-slavery movements focused on slowly allowing the slaves their freedom and integrating them into the communities. Others would focus on resettling slaves in Africa however that idea was never extremely popular and the amount of slaves relocated was relatively small compared to the total number of slaves. William Garrison became frustrated with the lack of progress and “had grown impatient with the strategy of moderation” (Tindall & Shi, 2010, p.431). Garrison decided moderation was not the