Abolition
The ideas of compromising over slavery and abolishing it completely were present in the Antebellum period. Abolitionists ranged from moderates (gradually abolish slavery) to radicals (immediate abolition). The abolition reform movement brought up many ideas about what should be done with slavery, and how people wanted it to be ended. New groups were introduced that supported abolition. The abolition movement created sectionalism in America. Among the abolitionists there was sectionalism, not all abolitionists agreed with each other's methods to end slavery. The sectionalism in the North and South also increased because of the antislavery movement.
Major figures and groups:
Major figures and groups:
- 1817: The American Colonization Society (moderates) had an idea to transport the freed slaves to an African colony, Monrovia, Liberia. However, this idea didn't prove to be practical because of the growing slave population in the United States.
- 1833: The American Antislavery Society (radicals) founded by William Lloyd Garrison and other uncompromising abolitionists advocated the immediate abolition of slavery.
- 1840: The Liberty party believed that political action was more practical than Garrison's route. This split the abolitionists movement. Led by James Birney, the Liberty party pledged to end slavery in political and legal ways.
- Former slave Frederick Douglass advocated to end slavery with direct and political action. In 1847 he began the antislavery journal The North Star.
- Harriet Tubman, David Ruggles, Sojourner Truth and William Still assisted fugitive
slaves to places where slavery was prohibited (like the North or Canada). - David Walker and Henry Highland Garnet (extreme radicals), two northern blacks, argued that slaves should revolt against their masters. This led to a revolt by slave Nat Turner.
- 1831: Virginia slave Nat Turner led a revolt which killed 55 whites. The whites retaliated and killed hundreds of blacks. All antislavery talk in the South ended after this revolt.