The Characteristics Of The Anti-Slavery Movement

Many of the people in the North that were of the Protestant faith believed in a different set of moral codes than the people of the South. In an excerpt taken from the textbook American Promise, the authors sum up what it was to be a Protestant at the time. “Not content with individual perfection, many of these people sought to perfect society as well, by defining excessive alcohol consumption, non-martial sex, and slavery as three major evils of modern life in need of correction” (page 376). The Protestant ideal helped form many groups that fought for the abolishment of slavery, among them the abolitionist movement. The Protestants felt that all men were created equal and this was in direct conflict with many Southern people. Many of the Northern reform groups “found their initial inspiration in Protestantism’s dual message: Salvation was open to all, and society needed to be perfected” (page 385).

The Abolitionist movement during the Antebellum period, was a critical time in American history. The goal of this movement was to emancipate all slaves immediately, and end discrimination, as well as segregation. The brave men and women involved in this movement were called abolitionists and antislavery advocates. The antislavery advocates stood for freeing slaves gradually, and abolitionists wanted slavery gone immediately. No matter how fast, these people all wanted to spread opposition against slavery across the United States. Northern churches started liking this whole idea of abolishing slavery, which started conflict between the North and South. These arguments led up to the Civil War.

The instant emancipation of slaves and the end of racial discrimination, segregation, and abuse were the goals of the American abolitionist movement. Unlike moderate anti-slavery advocates who pushed or gradual emancipation as well as other activists who argued to restrict slavery to certain areas in hopes to avoid slavery being spread west, the call for immediate emancipation is was set abolitionist apart. This movement was mainly fueled by the religious excitement of the Second Great Awakening. This awakening motivated many people to support the emancipation of slavery. These ideas increasingly became popular in northern churches and even in politics in the 1830s. This also contributed to animosity between the north and the south, leading to the Civil War.

Slave resistance began for many enslaved Africans before they reach the Americas. Karenga explained the many arrangements in which Africans resisted to enslavement, while in Africa, during the middle passage, and in the Americas. Employing the Karenga text one can evaluate the different resistances that transpired in Antigua as Cultural, Resistance, Day-to-Day Resistance, Abolitionism, Armed Resistance, Revolts, Ship Mutinies, and Afro-Native Alliance. One can conclude that enslaved Africans had an unrelenting resistance to enslavement (Karenga).

During the eighteenth century, the opposition to slavery prior to forming the United States became increasingly stronger between the Northern and Southern territories. Prior to the 1830s, antislavery societies began to emerge from every corner to challenge the slave system and to help combat slavery. During this time, people had different ideas about how to confront the issue of slavery in the system and how to establish a freedom of oppression. In the eighteenth century, antislavery political activists believed the slave system would able to be changed through peaceful political reforms, while others felt that real change could only be achieved by violence. A radical white abolitionist named John Brown became a historical figure whose beliefs motivated the violent abolitionist crusade.

The first slaves were brought to America in the early 1700s, before the country even had its independence. The slave population continued to grow until ultimately slavery was abolished after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, during the civil war. However, this fight towards abolishment of slavery did not come to be overnight. It took years of dispute and fighting for this conclusion to ultimately come to be. There were many different tactics abolitionists used as they strove to end slavery.

Religion was another factor in creating and solidifying the abolitionist movement. The first religious group to reject slavery was the Quakers, “standing almost alone in professing that slaveholding was incompatible with Christian piety” (McKivigan). Not long after the Quakers stand against slavery, did the northern states and the federal government take a stand, “federal government prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory and banned the trans-Atlantic slave trade.” (McKivigan). Out of all the states, “Virginia was the first territory to ban slavery within their borders,” and not long after that, “Pennsylvania followed suit” ("American Experience”). As the churches from the North and the South began to preach differently upon slavery, the churches started to reject and despise each other, “abolitionist ideas became increasingly prominent in Northern churches, which contributed to the regional animosity between the North and South” ("Abolitionist Movement"). Therefore, religion was an integral component to instigating the start of the Civil War. When the churches started believing that slavery was inhumane and that emancipation was greatly needed, the abolitionist cause became

This essay seeks to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the abolitionist perspectives in the Singaporean context. The critique of abolitionism in this essay is targeted at specific elements of the criminal justice system. Four common themes of the abolitionist perspectives will be applied to the Singaporean case: domestic violence, interactions with youth crime, discretionary capital punishment, and racialization of imprisonment. The value of the abolitionists argument stems from the criticism made to hegemonies about penal institutions, practices, and processes. Discretionary capital punishment presents itself as the most compelling argument for abolitionism in this respect.

The Civil War was one of the biggest wars and with it being one of the biggest wars it had the most U.S. casualties. Most people thought that the war was fought over the issue of slavery. Then there are others that think that the war was fought about States’ Rights, and I believe that slavery was the reason why the war actually started.

The text quote that “southerners drew heavily upon a religious discourse that they shared in large measure…” (Genovese 2). The southerners believed that religious played an important act on race and especially the cruelness on those African American in the south. Another quote that was stated in the text that supported slavery and think it was God will of doing things is when Raboteau states “That preachers should exhort, convert, and even pastor white Christians in the slave south was certainly antithetical to the premise of slave control.” (Raboteus2). The white made the black to believed that it was God will for them to accept being treated like slaves and control by the slaveholders.

In the time period between 1810 and the end of the 1840’s, The United States experienced a huge social change that impacted their development. These changes include the Temperance movement, the Abolitionist movement, the Second Awakening, trading and the start of the Industrial Revolution. With these events impacting social development, America developed a strong identity.

Methodists and Baptized believed all are equal in the eyes of God, but still participated in slavery throughout most of the eighteenth century. Some continued to practice slavery even after the church insisted on freeing slavers. Others justified slavery with their religion. George Whitefield, an evangelical Anglican cleric once said that the “legalization of slavery as part personal victory and part divine will”. He saw the act of enslaving African’s as God’s will for the betterment of Georgia. Otherwise decent men were led from God to participate in slavery. It was just too lucrative, had too much power of a business for most to abandon. In exchange for slavery and its associated wealth and social leverage, many Christians strayed from their religious morals. Even Equiano was entrapped in a system he saw to brutalized fellow humans. Perhaps his involvement with the abolition of the slave trade was in effort to purify Christianity, and thus realign his beliefs and morals with his

Abstract In favor of slavery the continuance of the institution of slavery of blacks also meaning opposed to interference with it. Those who defended slavery rose to the challenge. Setting forth the Abolitionists. The supporters of Slavery included economics, history, religion, legality, social good, and even humanitarianism, to further their arguments.

There were religious, political, radical and militant abolitionists. The religious abolitionists tried to get religious institutions as their allies. They gained the Methodist, Baptist and the Presbyterian groups for their anti-slavery movement. All of this brought dissension among the Baptist and Methodist. The northerners were protested against for allowing slave owners into the house of worship. An “American Missionary Association,” was created by the abolitionist after various groups resisted the movement.

Unrest ripples through the country like a wildfire as the discussion of war increases and a new threat to the country is debated. Although there were many different problems that led to the beginning of the American Civil War, slavery was the dominant cause of the Civil War. (Mendoza). The Northern states support anti-Slavery as the Southern states are pro-Slavery. These very two different standpoints ignited a fuse while they were left to slowly wait for the problem to finally explode into all-out war. However, these two sides did not fight with the older technology used in the Mexican war. Innovating ideas from the Mexican war, the generals and soldiers alike experienced the new found equipment that was introduced in this new era of war.