Abolitionism and Slavery: Influential Voices of 19th Century

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Between 1830 and the Civil War, slavery was a major political and religious issue, many influential people spoke out against slavery. For instance, abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, all wrote and spoke out against slavery in hopes of influencing others to abolish slavery. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and wrote about his experiences. William Lloyd Garrison supported the immediate emancipation of slaves and started his own newspaper, the Liberator, to express his opinions. Writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe revealed the conditions of slavery to the world.
Abolition was the idea of emancipation of slaves and ending racial differences in America. The abolition movement spread …show more content…

The compromise caused an unbalance between Free states and slaveholding states. Many events such as Nat Turner’s Rebellion, Dred Scott decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, John Browns Raid, caused a sectional difference in the U.S colonies. The south depended on slaves for their cotton production, freeing the slaves would decrease the amount of cotton being produced in the south. “In 1807, the number slaves totaled 1 million and cotton production about fifty million pounds; thirty years later the number of slaves doubled and cotton production had multiplied ten times (Aptheker, page 4).” When President Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, the south seceded fearing the abolishment of slavery. The Civil War started in April of 1861, slavery being the leading cause (Aptheker page 1-8; History.com Staff Web).
Frederick Douglass was one of many influential writers of the abolition movement. In Frederick Douglass’s writing he would describe the conditions of slavery that he had experienced and seen. Frederick Douglass was born …show more content…

William Lloyd Garrison was born on December 21, 1805 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. New England suffered from hard economic times when William was younger, causing the family to move to Lynn, Massachusetts. William’s mom sent him to live with Ezekiel and Salome Bartlett because she couldn’t take care of him properly. As a teenager, William had many odd jobs to help provide for his family, but he often struggled with them. In October 1818, William got a job as an apprentice at the Newburyport Herald from Ephraim Allen. After his apprentice was up, he bought his own newspaper with a loan from Allen. He published his first issue of the Free Press on March 22, 1826. He used his newspaper to promote his political beliefs; after 6 months the newspaper ended. In 1828, Garrison became an editor of the National Philanthropist, a newspaper intended to promote the temperance movement. William did not become interested in the antislavery movement after he heard Benjamin Lundy speak. Soon, he quit his editor job at the National Philanthropist and dedicated himself to the movement. In 1828, William started a petition to help encourage the abolishment of slavery, and got thousands of signatures. Soon after, The American Colonization Society (ACS) invited William to speak at the Park Street Church. The ACS attempted to encourage slaveholders free their slaves and help free blacks resettle

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