Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Abolitionism research paper
Abolition movement from 1830 to 1860
Abolition movement
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Abolitionism quickly gained popularity since 1821 when William Lloyd Garrison assisted in writing an anti-slavery newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation, with Benjamin Lundy. In 1831, abolitionism continued to grow in popularity when William Lloyd Garrison started The Liberator. Although there remained not a need for slaves in the North, slavery remained very big in the South for growing “cash crops.” The majority of the abolitionists who inhabited the North organized speeches, meetings, and newspapers to spread their cause. Initially, only small revolts and fights occurred. However, major events along the way led to the Harpers Ferry Raid. For example, with Kansas choosing whether or not to become a free or slave state. That became the biggest event up until John Brown’s Raid. John Brown had always despised slavery, and this enhanced his chance as an organized revolt. The effect of his raid on Harpers Ferry affected what the South thought about abolitionists and the power that they held. In the …show more content…
Ten men ended up dead in the Harpers Ferry raid and four escaped it. In a newspaper editorial in the New York Times Henry Raymond wrote in October 1859, “The Harpers Ferry story, judged on its merits proves little or nothing of immediate significance, either political or social” (Finkelman 119). In the court case of John Brown got found guilty of treason against the commonwealth of Virginia. On December 2 John Brown got executed. On his execution day Brown said, “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done.” The other six raiders happened to get executed in the next three months. Many abolitionists developed sadness because of the event, but the fearful southerners started
Brown had his mind made up to travel on the pathway to Harpers Ferry right when he was born and believed he is the only one that has to lead this battle. His parents were passionate Calvinists who taught their children to view life as an endless fight contrary to evil. The battle of John Brown was on a more personal level where he remembered a memory when he was five years old and his mother whipped him for stealing a vast amount of brass pins. In addition, the battle was somewhat on a political point as well because Brown and his family considered that the sincere had to be spectators against the bad people in America. They assumed that the biggest evil during their time has to be none other than the establishment of slavery. Therefore, the father of John Brown replaced their family residence in northeast Ohio into a stop on the Underground Railroad and made his son into a dedicated abolitionist. Brown’s developing participation in the movement in the 1830s and ’40s made him set his commitment as well as the rising nationwide fight over slavery’s position in a country supposedly devoted to equal opportunity. During this era, abolition...
Merill, Walter, ed. "The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison" Volume 1. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard
The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: 1844-1860. Vol. 5. New York: International Publishers, 1975.
... the abolitionist movement is fueled by reading The Liberator, a newspaper that stirs his soul in fighting for the anti-slavery cause. While attending an anti-slavery convention at Nantucket on August 11, 1841, Douglass, with encouragement from Mr. William C. Coffin, speaks for the first time to a white audience about slavery.
Outrage in the south reached a fevered pitch with the conspiracy of John Brown to command a slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry, VA in 1859. Likewise, the northern states were upset over the Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sanford which declared feel soil unconstitutional. By 1860, nobody could ignore the issues of slavery and state’s rights during the presidential election. The Democratic Party fought along regional lines for control of the direction they would undertake to deal with slavery in the west. Meanwhile, the Republican Party nominated a young man that advocated that all new states be free of slaves. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
Slave rebellion had not dissipated even after years had passed since Turner’s last insurrection. David Walker was son of a slave born free in North Carolina; he wrote a pamphlet Walker’s Appeal which infuriated southern slaveholders. Also, Harriet Tubman became the most famous conductor of the Underground Railway and led many slaves to freedom. Next, Frederick Douglass became the most famous black man of his time. On the 4th of July he gave an Independence address: “What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” (qtd Zinn 182). He also worked alongside William Lloyd Garrison a white abolitionist and editor of The Liberator. Additionally, John Brown a white abolitionist advocated the use of violence to disrupt and destroy the institution of slavery. He later was executed by the State of Virginia with the approval of the national government. Therefore, we start to see intellectual blacks fight for freedom and equal rights. Not only were they wanting to engage in armed insurrections, but also more ready to use political devices—the ballot box, the Constitution—anything to further their cause (Zinn
Clark, David Lee. Charles Brockden Brown: Pioneer Voice of America. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1952.
Garrow, David J. “Looking Back at Brown: 3 Books Reflect on the 1954 Supreme Court
Sunstein, Cass R. "Did Brown Matter?"The New Yorker. Conde Naste, 3 May 2004. Web. 12 Mar.
On October 18, the Marines, headed by Colonel Robert E. Lee, requested the surrender of Brown. He refused. The Marines attacked and captured John Brown. Brown’s trial took place in one week and on November 2, 1859, John Brown was charged with murder, treason, and leading a slave revolt. He was sentenced to death.
Nobody understands what really took place that night, the night that John Brown launched his raid on Harpers Ferry. Why it was done, what caused it and what the actual event itself caused was later discovered and well known by people centuries after it even took place. This raid, was one of the biggest reason a nation was left divided. The Southern part of America was its own “nation” where as the Northern part was thought of kind of as the same but opposite. “Midnight Rising” gives an in depth explanation and feel for the events leading to and the events caused by this raid. The book is based around the time period pre civil war ( circa 1859), In the first part of the book and overview and a little bit of background information is provided. Explaining where and when the raid was being planned and where it was going to be executed, and all of this being told through the perception of one of John Browns men .Prior to this event, Bleeding Kansas had happened and it caused an immense amount of outrage, blood shed, fear and frustration amongst almost every single person part of the U.S at the time. Nat Turners rebellion caused an uproar filled with fear, in the south and that was one of the things that had led up to the main event discussed in the book ( the raid on Harpers Ferry). During the time period the book took place, the southern part of America was pro slavery where as the North was not, and due to these discrepancies neither side could or would compromise and neither would be able to come to any sort of agreement on what to do with laws and rules and with the slaves either. Events such as Nat Turners Rebellion are what caused people in the south to become more fearful of slaves
Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. “Thomas Morton, Historian”. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No.4 (Dec., 1977), pp. 660-664. The New England Quarterly, Inc. .
Keegan, John. The Face of Battle. Untied States of America: Penguin Books, 1978. Pg. 78-116.
Polgar, Paul. "Fighting Lightning with Fire: Black Boston's Battle against "The Birth of a Nation"" Massachusetts Historical Review 10 (2008) 84-113. Web.