{!il[ifJMI~ ~ . ·: : How did abolitionists • : influence the antislavery : movement? · .. ..... ... ..... ... ... . Reading Guide Content Vocabulary abolitionist (p. 425)

Underground Railroad (p. 430)

Academic Vocabulary

.

route (p. 430) medical (p. 431)

Key People and Events American Colonization Society (p. 425)

William Uoyd Garrison (p. 426)

Sarah Grlmke (p. 427)

Angelina Grimke (p. 427)

David Walker (p. 428)

Frederick Douglass (p. 428)

Sojourner Truth (p. 429)

Elijah Lovejoy (p. 431)

Reading Strategy Taking Notes As you read, use a diagram like the one below to identify five abolitionists. Below each name, write a brief description of his or her role in the movement

olitionists

American Diary Sojourner Truth was an enslaved woman

who gained her freedom in 1827. Although

she lacked a formal education, her eloquent

and deeply religious antislavery speeches

attracted huge crowds. Truth believed that

just as African Americans deserved equal

rights, so too did women. Sojoun1er Ttuth's

most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman?':

was given in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. Truth asked, "I have plowed and reaped and

husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than thatr

-quoted in SojoumerTruth As Orator

Early Efforts to End Slavery I ¢A rmt10@1 During the early 1800s, some Americans began to call for an end to slavery.

History and You What issues divide our nation today? Read to learn how the issue of slavery continued to divide the nation in the early 1800s. .. ......................... " ........ . T he spirit of reform that swept the United States in the early 1800s was not limited to improving education and expanding the arts. It also included the efforts of abolitionists like Sojourner Truth. Abolitionists were among the growing band of reformers who worked to abolish, or end, slavery.

Even before the American Revolution, some Americans had tried to limit or end slavery. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the delegates did not agree on this dif­ficult issue. Instead, they reached a compro­mise by agreeing to let each state decide whether to allow slavery. By the early 1800s, slavery had ended in the Northern states. It continued, however, to be a part of the econ­omy in Southern states.

The reform movement of the early and mid-1800s gave new life to the antislavery movement. Many Americans came to believe that slavery was wrong. Yet not all Northern­ers shared this view. The conflict over slavery continued to build.

Many who led the antislavery movement came from the Quaker faith. One Quaker, Benjamin Lundy, founded a newspaper in 1821 to spread the abolitionist message. He wrote:

PRIMARY SouRCE

"I heard the wail of the captive, I felt his pang of distress, and the iron entered my soul:'

-quoted in "The Underground Railroad in Ohio"

American Colonization Society The first large-scale antislavery effort was

not aimed at abolishing slavery. Its aim was to resettle African Americans in Africa or the Caribbean. The American Colonization Society, formed in 1816 by a group of white Virginians, freed enslaved workers by buying them from slaveholders and sending them abroad to start new lives.

1 ime Line The Abolition Movement

1787 States given authority to decide whether to allow slavery

Early Opposition Early antislavery societies called for a gradual end to slavery. In the 1830s, however, more groups were inspired by the American reform movement and argued that enslaved people should be freed immediately.

1831 William lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator

1833 American

Colonization Society founded

1832 New England Anti-Slavery Society founded

Sojourner Truth's speeches draw huge crowds

Making Inferences Why do you think some people supported a gradual end to slavery?

The Found of Liberia "It is best, for all [African Americans and whites] . . . that there should be a separation; that those who are now free ... should be provided with the means of attaining to a state of respectability and happiness, which [they] ... can never be likely to reach, in this country."

A Country for African Americans Support from private donors and the U.S. government helped the American Colonization Society establish the colony of Liberia on the African coast in 1822. Liberia established a republican government and declared independence in 1847. The United States, however, did not officially recognize Liberia as an independent nation until 1862. -from a report by the American Colonization

Society to the U.S. Congress

Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Liberia's first president Liberian coat

of arms ~ y

Liberian flag ~

ATLANnC OCEAN

The society raised money from private donors, Congress, and a few state legislatures to send several groups of African Americans out of the country. Some traveled to the west coast of Africa, where the society acquired land for a colony. The first African American settlers arrived in this colony, called Liberia­Latin for "place of freedom"-in 1822. Some 12,000 to 20,000 African Americans settled in the new country between 1822 and 1865.

The American Colonization Society did not stop the growth of slavery. The number of enslaved people continued to increase. The society could resettle only a small number of African Americans. Furthermore, most African Americans did not want to go to Africa. Many were from families that had lived in America for generations. They sim­ply wanted to be free in American society. Some African Americans feared that the society might actually strengthen slavery.

Reading Check Explaining How did the American Colonization Society fight slavery?

426 Chapter 14 The Age of Reform

arriving in Liberia Analyzing Why do you think the United States did not recognize Liberia as an independent nation in 184 7?

The Movement Changes 1\!J rmtiOI¥1 Beginning in the 1830s, slavery became the most pressing issue for reformers.

History and You Is there a leader or a person whom you admire? Does he or she stand up for others? Read to learn how abolitionists worked to end slavery.

R eformers realized that the gradual approach to ending slavery had failed. More­over, the numbers of enslaved persons had sharply increased because the cotton boom in the Deep South made planters increas­ingly dependent on slave labor. Beginning in about 1830, the American antislavery move­ment took on new life. Slavery became the most pressing social issue for reformers.

William Lloyd Garrison Massachusetts abolitionist William Lloyd

Garrison had a great influence on the anti­slavery movement. In 1831, he started the antislavery newspaper, The Liberator.

Garrison was one of the first white aboli­tionists to call for the immediate freeing of enslaved people. He denounced the slow, gradual approach of other reformers. In the first issue of his paper, he wrote, "I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice .... I will not retreat a single inch­AND I WILL BE HEARD."

Garrison was heard. He attracted enough followers to start the New England Anti­Slavery Society in 1832 and the American Anti-Slavery Society the next year. The abo­litionist movement grew rapidly. By 1838, the antislavery societies Garrison started had more than 1,000 chapters, or local branches.

The Grimke Sisters Among the first women who spoke out

publicly against slavery were Sarah and Angelina Grimke. The sisters were born in South Carolina to a wealthy slaveholding family. The women moved to Philadelphia in 1832. While living in the North, the Grimke

sisters lectured and wrote against slavery. At one antislavery meeting, Angelina Grimke exclaimed:

PRIMARY SouRcE

"As a Southerner I feel that it is my duty to stand up ... against slavery. I have seen it-1 have seen it:'

-from a speech at Pennsylvania Hall

The Grimkes persuaded their mother to give them their share of the family inheri­tance. Instead of money or land, the sisters asked for several of the enslaved workers, whom they immediately freed.

The Grimkes and Angelina's husband, abolitionist Theodore Weld, wrote American Slavery As It Is in 1839. This book collected firsthand accounts of life under slavery. It was one of the most powerful abolitionist publications of its time.

Histor,.__,LJ111111 Student Web Activity Visit glencoe.com and complete the Chapter 14 Web Activity about African American abolitionists.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Stowe wrote many books and stories about social reform. Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1852, was her most famous work. The novel shows slavery as a cruel and brutal system. Stowe later said that while she was writing it, "My heart was bursting with the anguish excited by the cruelty and injustice our nation was showing to the slave:' Uncle Tom's Cabin had a major impact on public feelings about slavery. Even President Abraham Lincoln is claimed to have said that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book that started the American Civil War.

1. Analyzing Why did Stowe write Uncle Tom's Cabin?

2. Evaluating Why do you think Stowe might be accused of starting a civil war?

Primary Source Views About Slavery

Different Views In the 1820s, antislavery sentiment strengthened in the North. Abolitionists formed the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. The Society attacked slavery in its literature and speeches. In response, Southerners developed a theory to defend slavery.

·~s slaveholders and their apologists are ... flooding the world with

testimony that their slaves are kindly treated; that they are well fed, well clothed, well housed, well lodged, moderately worked,

A Theodore Weld

and bountifully provided with all things needful for their comfort . .. . We will prove that the slaves in the United States are treated with barbarous Inhumanity." -from American Slavery As It Is

African American Abolitionists African Americans also played a major role

in the abolitionist movement. The abolition of slavery was an especially important goal to the free African Americans of the North.

Most African Americans in the North lived in poverty in cities. They were excluded from most jobs. White mobs often attacked them. These African Americans, however, were proud of their freedom, and many wanted to help those who were still enslaved.

African Americans helped organize and direct the American Anti-Slavery Society. They subscribed in large numbers to The Liberator. In 1827 Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm started the country's first African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal.

Born a free man in North Carolina, writer David Walker of Boston published his argu­ment against slavery. He challenged African Americans to rebel and overthrow slavery. He wrote, "America is more our country than it is the whites'-we have enriched it with our blood and tears."

428 Chapter 14 The Age of Reform

A In an announcement for a meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier was included:

"On, woman! from thy happy hearth Extend thy gentle hand to save The poor and perishing of earth­The chained and stricken slave! Oh, plead for all the suffering of thy kind-For the crushed body and the darkened mind."

In 1830 free African American leaders held their first convention in Philadelphia. Dele­gates met "to devise ways and means for the bettering of our condition." They discussed starting an African American college and encouraging free African Americans to emi­grate to Canada.

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass, the most widely

known African American abolitionist, was born enslaved in Maryland. After teaching himself to read and write, he escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1838. He settled first in Massachusetts and then moved to New York.

As a runaway, Douglass could have been captured and returned to slavery. Still, he joined the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Soci­ety. He traveled widely to address abolition­ist meetings. Douglass was a powerful speaker who often moved listeners to tears with his message. At an Independence Day gathering, he told the audience:

<IIIII Selling enslaved people at auction

._ Defenders of slavery described plantations as ideal settings where enslaved persons were well treated .

._ Poster announcing the raffle of a horse and an enslaved female

"In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect and but little skill . ... Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement. ... Fortunately for the South, she found a race adapted to that purpose. "

Critical Thinking

Analyzing Primary Sources What pro-slavery arguments are discussed in the quotations from Weld and Hammond? -Senator James Henry Hammond in a speech to Congress, 1858

PRIMARY SouRCE

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham ... your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; ... your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery:'

-from Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings

Douglass was editor of the antislavery newspaper North Star and won admiration as a powerful and influential speaker and writer. He even traveled abroad. Douglass spoke to huge antislavery audiences in London and the West Indies.

Douglass returned to the United States because he believed abolitionists must fight slavery at its source. He insisted that Afri­can Americans receive not just their free­dom but full equality with whites as well. In 1847 friends helped Douglass buy his freedom from the slaveholder from whom he had fled in Maryland.

Sojourner Truth "I was born a slave in Ulster County, New

York," Isabella Baumfree began when she told her story to audiences. Called "Belle," she lived in the cellar of a slaveholder's house. She escaped in 1826 and gained official freedom in 1827 when New York banned slavery. Quaker friends then helped her find her son who had been sold as a slave. She eventually settled in New York City with her two youngest chil­dren. In 1843 Belle chose a new name:

PRIMARY SouRCE

''The Lord [named] me Sojourner .. . Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the people:'

-from Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend

Sojourner Truth worked with a number of other abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, to bring about the end of slavery. She traveled through­out the North and spoke about her experi­ences as an enslaved person. Sojourner Truth was also an active supporter of the women's rights movement.

The Age of Reform Chapter 14 429

Primary Source Reactions Against Abolitionism

Anti-Abolitionists Opposition to abolitionism was almost as strong in the North as it was in the South. Southerners viewed abolitionism as an attack on their way of life. Many Northerners feared the effect abolition might have upon them. In both areas, anti-abolitionists violently responded to literature that supported abolitionism.

In 1837 in Alton, Illinois, a mob killed abolition­ist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy, destroyed his press (right), and burned his house (below).

The Underground Railroad Some abolitionists risked prison-even

death-by helping African Americans escape from slavery. The network of escape routes­lines of travel-from the South to the North was called the Underground Railroad.

Passengers on this "railroad" traveled through the night, often on foot, and went north. The North Star was their guide. Dur­ing the day passengers rested at "stations"­barns, basements, and attics-until the next night's journey. The railroad's "conductors" were whites and African Americans who helped guide the runaways to freedom in the Northern states or Canada. Harriet Tubman became the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad helped only a tiny fraction of the enslaved population. Still, the Railroad gave hope to people who suf­fered in slavery. It also gave abolitionists a way to help some enslaved people.

Reading Check Explaining What were "stations" on the Underground Railroad?

430 Chapter 14 The Age of Reform

.A Southerners burn antislavery documents in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1830.

"And men, /Ike the abolitionist ••• [who goes] about meddling with other Peoples' affairs ••• [should] pay attention to his own affairs, & let his neighbor alone • ••• If these matters are going to be {agitated It will] ••• lead to the separation of the Union."

-from a letter by E. W. Taylor (a New Yorker who moved to South Carolina)

Analyzing Why did anti-abolitionists destroy pro-abolition .literature?

Clashes Over Abolitionism 1\*J Fttljlfi!¥1 Many Southerners and Northerners opposed abolition.

History and You Can you think of a time when you feared change, even if it was for the better? Read to learn why many people opposed abolition.

T he antislavery movement triggered a strong reaction against abolitionism. Many Southerners opposed the idea of ending slav­ery. They held that abolitionism threatened the South's way of life, which depended on enslaved labor.

Not all Northerners were abolitionists. The abolitionists in the North made up only a small fraction of the population. Many Northerners saw the antislavery movement as a threat to the nation's social order. They believed that once freed, the African Ameri­cans could never blend into American soci­ety. Other Northerners feared that the abolitionists could begin a war between the North and South.

Many Northerners also had economic fears. They did not want to lose their jobs to the emancipated workers who might travel to the North and work for cheaper wages.

Opposition to abolitionism sometimes erupted into violence against the abolitionists themselves. Philadelphia's antislavery head­quarters was burned, which set off a bloody race riot. A Boston mob attacked and threat­ened to hang abolitionist William Lloyd Gar­rison. Authorities saved his life by putting him in jail.

Elijah Lovejoy in Illinois was not so lucky. Angry whites invaded his antislavery news­paper offices and wrecked his presses three times. Each time Lovejoy installed new presses and resumed publication. The fourth time the mob set fire to the building. When Lovejoy came out of the blazing building, he was shot and killed.

The South Reacts Southerners fought abolitionism with argu­

ments in defense of slavery. They claimed

Vocabulary Critical Thinking

that slavery was essential to the Southern economy and had allowed Southern whites to reach a high level of culture.

Southerners also argued that they treated enslaved people well. They claimed that North­ern workers were worse off than enslaved workers because they worked in factories for long hours at low wages. These jobs were rep­etitious and often dangerous. Also, Northern workers had to pay for their own goods and services from their small earnings, whereas the system of slavery provided food, clothing, and medical care to its workers.

Other defenses of slavery were based on racism. Many whites believed that African Americans were better off under white care than on their own.

The conflict between pro-slavery and anti­slavery groups continued to mount. At the same time, a new women's rights movement was growing.

Reading Check Explaining How did many Southerners defend the instituion of slavery?

Study CentraiTM To review this section, go to glencoe.com.

1. Write complete sentences that define the following terms:

Main Ideas

2. Specifying What effect did the American Colonization Society have on slavery? How did enslaved African Americans view that group and its efforts?

5. Outlining Use a format like the one below to make an outline of this section. Write each main heading on a line with a Roman numeral, and then list important facts below it. The number of key facts may vary from this sample.

6. Creative Writing Write a conver­sation that might have taken place between a Southern plan­tation owner and a Massachu­setts abolitionist about the abolition of slavery. Have each character explain his or her point of view.

3. Discussing Discuss the role of African Americans in the aboli­tionist movement.

4. Comparing and Contrasting How did Northerners and South­erners view abolitionism differently?

I. First main heading A. Key fact #1 B. Key fact #2

II. Second main heading A. Key fact #1

B. Key fact #2 Ill. Third main heading

A. Key fact #1

B. Key fact #2

How did abolitionists influence the antislavery movement?

The Age of Reform Chapter 14 431

D NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

GEOGRAPHY

The Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a loosely organized system of secret routes for helping enslaved people escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. However, the popular notion of lantern-wielding "conduc­tors" guiding families of enslaved people through forests in the South is largely inaccurate. In fact, few Southerners were willing to assist an enslaved person escape. For the most part, fugitives were on their own until they reached border states. There they could find assistance from loosely-connected groups of abolitionists. This network was the true Underground Railroad.

How Did Geography Affect the Underground Railroad? Few abolitionists escorted runaways from the Deep South into free territory. Most runaways­typically single young men-probably lived in the upper South, close to free territories. Anti­slavery Northerners-mostly free African Americans-in border towns such as Ripley, Ohio, and Wilmington, Delaware, hid escapees from police and professional slave catchers and helped them move farther north.

N /+ W E

s

0

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Slaveholding regions

Non-slaveholding reg ions

.._ Underground Railroad route

-- 1860 boundary

400 kilometers - - I I 70<W 0 400 miles Albers Equal-Area projection

Ellen Craft (1826-1891) was the daughter of an African American enslaved woman and her slaveholder. Passing as white, Ellen escaped from slavery in

Georgia in 1848 by dressing as a Southern male slaveholder (pictured below left). Her darker-skinned husband, William Craft (pictured right), accompanied her by pretending to be her valet.

1. Place From which state do you think more African Americans successfully escaped slavery to freedom: Kentucky or Alabama? Explain your answer.

2. Regions On the map, locate the cities of Toledo, Cleveland , and Buffalo. Why do you think these cities became important points along the Underground Railroad?