19th Century American History

The Abolitionist reformers of 18th and 19th centuries were dedicated to eliminating slavery . The movement started with the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania during 1680s , popularly known as Quakers . The idea behind the movement was that slavery as an institution was immoral to the dignity of man . It was by a court in 1772 that a fugitive slave automatically achieved momentum . Abolitionism started as an organized force in England in 1780s when William Wilbeforce and Clapham Sect , a wealthy Anglican started agitation against the slavery . Since 1789 , US constitution effectively ended slave

importation and by 1804 all American States North of Maryland abolished slavery (Peter Ripley el et , 1993

The abolitionist differed from the people who had moderate anti-slavery feelings . These Abolitionists were extreme in expressing themselves against the slavery and desired an immediate end to slavery . They completely denied any validity of any law that considered slavery legal often resorted to violent ways . This interference and propaganda of abolitionist was violently opposed in the South where slavery became a national issue . The movement found their voice in William Lloyd Garrison who founded the Liberator in Boston a news that became a clamor of American Abolitionism (Louis , 1987

In 1833 , The American Anti-Slavery Society came into being in Philadelphia under Garrison 's leadership . The general public viewed the Abolitionists as an organised group of fanatics who could not tolerate slavery as an institution . By 1839 , the society was split in two main groups the radicals and gradualists . The reason for division was the policy and tactics used by some of the group leaders . The radical leaders besides Garrison included Wendell Phillips , Lucretia Mott and John Brown were committed to gradual and legal emancipation through religious and political pressure (Louis , 1987

There were others who opted for violent means to release the slaves For example the Fugitive Slave Act helped in producing a new band of radicals who freed the blacks . It helped in recruiting hundreds of anti slavery settlers in Kansas , who took an armed resistance and battling through violent means . In 1840s Tappans founded American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in numerous states carrying out anti-slavery agitation throughout the nations . As the issue became political , Birney founded an anti slavery political party and ran as an unsuccessful presidential candidate between 1840 and 1844 highlighting the plight of slaves (Peter el et , 1993

By 1850s , the advocacy of violence against the slave owners was replaced by moral convincing . It was after the victory of Union forces in Civil War that the Abolitionists claimed a complete triumph . In reality this victory was not based on idealism nor was it a moral victory instead it was through blood and iron that has given this triumph to the movement (Philip and Herbert , 1994 . In the post war era , the abolitionist reformers continued to lobby in the federal government for the rights of African Americans rights . This political abolitionism later on gave rise to natural rights theory that provided the legal justification for the...