The Abolitionist MovementSouth Dakota State Standard 9-12.US.2.3

By Matt Baumgartner

• 1542 Spain abolished colonial slavery, but later reinstated it in 1545

• 17th century Quakers and other religious groups found slavery to be un-Christian

• 18th century enlightenment figures and intellectuals found it to violate the universal rights of man

• Pennsylvania passed An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1780

• Britain banned the importation of African slaves in its colonies in 1807, and the United States followed in 1808

Early Abolition Movements

Court Challenges to Slavery• Montgomery V. Sheddan in 1756, and Spens V.

Dalrymple in 1769, set the precedent of a legal procedure within the British court system that would later lead to successful outcomes for various plaintiffs

• The Somersett case in 1772 successfully emancipated a slave in England

• Dred Scott V. Sandford case of 1857 was an unsuccessful attempt at emancipating a slave through the US court system. Scott, and his family, had lived with his master, Dr. John Emerson, in states and territories where slavery was illegal, and thus sued that they should be free on these grounds

Religious Rational for Abolition• Quakers were one of the first groups to

use a strictly religious and morality based rational for the opposition to slavery

• Second Great Awakening of the 1820s and 1830s in religion inspired groups that undertook many types of social reform, including abolishing slavery

• Many Irish Catholics also supported the abolishment of slavery on religious grounds

Slave Trade Act 1807• Passed in accordance with the

constitution, which allowed congress to revisit the issue of slavery 20 years after the constitution’s ratification

• Signed into law by Thomas Jefferson• Took effect on January 1st, 1808• Banned the importation of new slaves

into the United States• Ended the legal trans-Atlantic slave trade• Trading slaves within the US was still

legal until the 13th amendment was ratified

Back to Africa Movement• Also known as the colonization

movement• Encouraged African Americans to return

to Africa, which was their homeland, and reconnect with their native culture

• Beginning in 1821, with the founding of the nation of Liberia, private groups funded the immigration of former slaves back to the African continent

• Not really a long-term solution to the issues surrounding slavery and discrimination in the United States

American Anti-Slavery Society

• Active from 1833-1870• Founded by William Lloyd Garrison

and Arthur Tappan• Frederick Douglass was a key leader

and spoke regularly at their meetings• By 1838 they had over 250,000

members nationwide• published a weekly newspaper, the

National Anti-Slavery Standard

Key Individual Abolitionist

Leaders Within the

United States and England

Ignatius Sancho• Lived approximately 1729 – December 14, 1780• Born on a slave ship• He is the first known Black Englishman to vote

in a British election• Known at the time as “the extraordinary Negro”• To 18th century British abolitionists he became

a symbol of the humanity of Africans and immorality of the slave trade

• The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, edited and published two years after his death, is one of the earliest accounts of African slavery written by a former slave in English

Thomas Paine• Lived February 9, 1737 – June 8, 1809• Was known as "a corset maker by trade,

a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination.“

• Paine is often credited with writing "African Slavery in America", the first article proposing the emancipation of African slaves and the abolition of slavery

• His fervent objections to slavery led to his exclusion from power during the early years of the Republic

John Jay• Lived December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829• An American politician, statesman,

diplomat, a Founding Father , and the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court

• Was the Governor of New York State from 1795 to 1801, and he became the state's leading opponent of slavery

• His first two attempts to emancipate the slaves in New York failed in 1777 and in 1785

• The 1799 Act, a gradual emancipation law, that he signed, eventually brought about the emancipation of all slaves within the state

Ignatius Sancho

Thomas Paine

John Jay

William Wilberforce• Lived August 24, 1759 – July 29, 1833• British Politician• 1785, he underwent a conversion experience

and became an evangelical Christian• 1787, he came into contact with a group of

anti-slave trade activists, which inspired him deeply

• He introduced a law banning the slave trade in Britain every year from 1781-1807

• Continued to work towards the full abolishment of slavery until he retired from Parliament in 1826 due to failing health

William Wilberforce• The Great Slavery Debate

John Brown• Lived May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859• Brown has been called "the most

controversial of all 19th-century Americans" and "America's first terrorist.“

• He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas

• Attempted to start a slave insurrection and liberation movement in Harper’s Ferry Virginia (present day West Virginia)

• Was tried for murder and treason, found guilty, and hanged

Frederick Douglass• Lived February 1818 – February 20,

1895• Escaped from slavery• Became an outspoken leader within

the abolitionist movement• Stood as a living counter-example to

slaveholders' arguments that slaves did not have the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens

• He wrote several autobiographies

John Brown & Frederick Douglas

•Free and Slave States Over the Years

• On March 4, 1861 eleven states seceded from the United States to form the Confederate States, effectively beginning the Civil War

• In 1862 pro-Union forces in the border states of Missouri, West Virginia, and Maryland begin emancipating slaves

• January 1, 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which, over the next 24 months, served as the basis for ending slavery in the United States

• The ratification of the 13th amendment to the US constitution, in December of 1865, officially declared slavery illegal, and freed the approximately 50,000 remaining slaves within the US

An End In Site

THE END