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Abolition Movement
Abolitionism was a movement among some Americans to abolish slavery. The goal of the abolitionists was to emancipate all of the slaves and to end discrimination. This movement started off in the North where there was little to no slavery. Many people spoke out against slavery including David Walker and WIlliam Lloyd Garrison. Antislavery newspapers were published. By the late 1850s there were hundreds of thousands of abolitionists. -
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Slavery in the South
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Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of people that helped slaves escape from their masters to freedom in Canada or in the North. Many runaway slaves would return to guide family, friends, and other runaway slaves though the Underground Railroad. The trip was not easy. The runaways would travel at night, hide during the day, and faced extreme punishment if they were caught. Harriet Tubman guided nineteen Underground Railroad trips and was never caught. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave that lived in Virginia. Turner and his followers rose in rebellion against their masters, and they killed at least fifty-five white men, women, and children. Turner tried to gather an army for his cause, but not enough people joined. The white militia quickly defeated them and put the heads of fifteen of them on poles to warn others. Turner was hung. As a result tougher slave codes and restrictions were enforced. -
Congress and the "Gag Rule"
As the issue over slavery grew it became more of a conflict and topic of debate in Congress. Abolitionists sent numerous petitions to Congress asking to abolish slavery. The “gag rule” was implied in May of 1836 and lasted until 1844. The rule dismissed everything in Congress related to the topic of slavery. It was enforced because it was thought that the slavery issue distracted other political matters. -
Wilmot Proviso
Americans were at war with Mexico. David Wilmot proposed that to limit the spread of slavery, that slavery should be prohibited in any territories acquired from Mexico. This idea angered the Southern states, and it never passed as a law. After the Wilmot Proviso, the free-soil party formed, and it drew more attention to the issue over slavery. -
Free-Soil Movement
The free-soilers organized a political party after the Wilmot Proviso. They described slavery as a threat to republican liberties and white yeoman farming. Their goal was to preserve the West for freehold farms. The free-soilers nominated Martin Van Buren as their presidential candidate for the 1848 election. An abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison denounced the free-soil doctrine as racist “whitemanism”. -
Compromise of 1850
The compromise admitted California as a free state, resolved a boundary dispute between New Mexico and Texas, abolished slave trade (but not slavery) in the District of Columbia, organized territories of New Mexico and Utah and left the decision to allow or prohibit slavery in those vast areas to popular sovereignty, and also included new Fugitive Slave Act. The Fugitive Slave Act was very controversial, and it required federal magistrates in the task of returning runaway slaves. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe is the author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The book was very influential in the push for emancipation of the slaves, and it was a factor that contributed to the beginning of the Civil War. It changed how Americans thought about slavery and it was a bestseller. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American that lived with his master in the free state of Illinois and at Fort Snelling, where slavery was prohibited. Scott claimed that since he lived in a free state, that he was free. The Supreme Court decided that he was still a slave and that he had no right to sue the federal court. John C. Calhoun claimed that southern citizens had the right to take their slave property into the territories and own it there. So technically slavery was legal everywhere. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Lincoln and Douglas argued in a series of seven debates. Lincoln advocated economic opportunity for free blacks but not equal political rights. Lincoln also warned of the dangers of spreading slavery and a divided country in his “House Divided” speech. Douglas declared his support for white supremacy. These debates gave Lincoln a national reputation and helped to establish the Republican Party as a formidable political force.
