The Abolitionist Movement During The Antebellum Period

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, in 1845 and was praised by abolitionists. Douglass used vocabulary words,pathos,logos,and ethos to effectively make an argument against slavery.In his autobiography Douglass used the four rhetorical elements to show his readers the events he went through on the way to freedom. He used them to make the readers believe his argument against slavery.

Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who altered America's views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick's life as a slave had the greatest impact on his writings. Through his experience as a slave, he developed emotion and experience for him to become a successful abolitionist writer. He experienced harsh treatment and his hate for slavery and desire to be free caused him to write Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his Narrative, he wrote the story of his miserable life as a slave and his fight to be free. His motivation behind the character (himself) was to make it through another day so that maybe one day he might be free. By speaking out, fighting as an abolitionist and finally becoming an author,

Being an abolitionist was not a popular stance in pre-civil war America. Levi Coffin and his wife were abolitionists who assisted thousands of slaves make their way to freedom threw the Underground Railroad. The Coffins were radical, they risked their own freedom to help strangers have theirs. Levi was middle class white business owner, he had no incentive to speak out against slavery. In contrast to society the Coffins not only opposed slavery, but they took action against it. They begin housing run a way slaves in their own home. This was extremely risky because if they were caught they would be imprisoned and lose all they owned. Once they had a very close encounter with law. When questioned they refused to deny that they had slaves hidden,

The goal of the abolitionist movement was to achieve immediate emancipation for all slaves in the United States and to end the discrimination of African Americans in the United States (Foner, Give Me Liberty 445). Of the many leaders of the abolitionist movement, some of the prominent leaders were David Walker, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Different abolitionists used different methods to achieve their mutual goal of achieving emancipation of all slaves. During a time when slavery was thriving, their idea was regarded by many as completely absurd; but it was this absurd idea that freed the people of America.

In the biography of Frederick Douglass written by Nathan Irvin Huggins, covers the life of a magnificent man who lived his life as a slave, only to flee for his freedom to be a foremost advocate against slavery. Douglass was a black leader in the time of hostilities towards his race and became the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement. He fought to end slavery within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil War and even harder after. He was also a great writer, husband and father to four children.

William Lloyd Garrison was a leader among the American abolitionists, a self-made journalist, and social reformer. He was world renown, considered one of the most vocal opponents of slavery before the Civil War. Garrison made an impact on the abolitionist movement by promoting non-violent and non-political resistance, calling for the immediate end to slavery as well as equal rights for black Americans.

Abolitionism is the act or action of abolishing a system, practice, or institution. The movement that is referred to as the Abolitionist Movement, was a movement that was formed to eliminate slavery completely. The early movement, that took place between 1770 and 1830, focused on eliminating the African Slave Trade. The early abolitionist believed they would be able to eliminate slavery altogether if they could eliminate the slave trade.

The abolitionist movement was an important time in American history. Abolitionists were people that opposed slavery which was an enormous problem in the South. African-Americans worked with white abolitionists to gain support and funds for the cause. Former slaves, white men, black women and all different types came together for the movement. Many abolitionists such as Sojourner Truth and Douglass were able to draw on their past experiences as slaves to tell about the horrible treatment of their peers.

Prior to the 1830s most antislavery activists focused on gradual emancipation. Most of these activists were Southern whites, who thought that it would progressively wither away. Only black abolitionists demanded an immediate end to slavery. The abolitionist movement called for the end of slavery and had existed in one form or another since colonial times; the early case had been stated most consistently by the Quakers. Most Northern states abolished slavery after the War for Independence, reacting to moral concerns

This biography is about Frederick Douglass. Douglass became famous he was one of the most famous abolitionist and taught himself how to read and write and filled lecture halls about the struggle of his life. He taught himself how to read and write he brought slavery to an end, and he escaped slavery and a young age.

Throughout 1849 to 1852, the abolitionist movement to end slavery grew in northern states with the goal to regulate slavery in southern confederate states. Social movements and groups formed to stop the westward expansion of slavery. An important short-lived political party in the United States active during that time was the Free Soil Party, which consisted of former anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party. In “ Politics and Prejudice: The Free Soil Party and The Negro, 1849-1852,” Eric Foner analyzes the Free Soil Party’s attempt to prohibit the expansion of slavery regardless of the majority of people that considered themselves abolitionists to not believe that “Negroes” were socially equal to them. Even though the

William Lloyd Garrison was a very influential reformer of the mid-1800’s. His main goal, as a leader for abolition, was to simply show people how immoral slavery was, and as a result, have more people join his campaign to end it. In 1830, he published a newspaper, called “The Liberator,” that declared his uncompromisable position on the moral outrage of slavery. Reaching thousands globally. He then founded the American Anti-slavery society. With support he traveled

William Lloyd Garrison was not the first abolitionist, but he was the best known leader of the movement which called for the immediate end to slavery. Garrison attacked the morality of slavery and attacked anyone who condoned or enabled it. His views were very unpopular in all parts of the nation, not just the South. Garrison's life was constantly threatened. He was yelled at by opponents and was even dragged through the streets of Boston with a rope around his neck.

Frederick Douglass in his writing Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, American Slave, he acts sometimes as a protagonist and sometimes as a narrator. He was a former slave, and his writing was about that. He made an effort to present the realistic issue of the slavery at that time. As was showed on the writing, he was a person that wanted to help others, especially slaves because he knew how it was. In his writing he narrow his emotion and others who had suffered the same think.

While slavery was settled and accepted in the Southern Methodist Churches, anti-slavery movement was taking place in the north and elsewhere. As slavery deepens in the South, the anti-slavery in the north had become more intense, led by people like William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. Sweet states, “This new type of anti-slavery agitation is typified by William Lloyd Garrison and his Liberator; by Wendell Phillips with his eloquent appeals for the downtrodden slave; and by John Greenleaf Whittier with his anti-slavery poems.” The characteristics of the anti-slavery movement they pursued were "immdediate" and "uncompensated emancipation". This is due to what they recognized that the slavery issue is urgent to solve. Their anti-slavery movement was supported by many people, and many of the supporters were members of the church in the north. In addition, slavery was increasingly a major problem for the churches because of the deepening slavery in the south. The Methodist Church in the north also began to participate in this active anti-slavery movement. According to Sweet, “Methodist Conferences in the North and other religious bodies began to pass anti-slavery resolutions, and Methodist anti-slavery societies and Methodist antislavery papers soon made their appearance.” The anti-slavery movement in these northern Methodist churches began to take on a concrete shape. There were societies worried only about anti-slavery, and the voice of anti-slavery began to appear in each church. Sweet speaks about this, “In 1835 both the New England and the New Hampshire Conferences formed anti-slavery societies, and Methodist pulpits began to be opened to abolition speakers.” This means that the northern Methodist churches dealt with not only the word of God but also justice in the pulpit. This is what the church in the present needs to follow. The church should be a place where justice is shouted regardless of whether it earns profits or not through its action.