Slavery and Abolition Chapter 8 2 Abolitionists Speak

Slavery and Abolition Chapter 8. 2

Abolitionists Speak Out 1/2 • By the 1820’s more than 100 anti-slavery societies wanted resettlement in Africa for the blacks because Americans did not believe the two could co-exist and were inferior. • Most Blacks considered the US home and only 1, 400 emigrated to Africa between 1820 -1830.

Abolitionists Speak Out 2/2 • African Americans and whites publicly criticized slavery and supported abolition • Abolition- the call to end slavery. – Preachers such as Charles G. Finney termed slavery a “great national sin”.

William Lloyd Garrison 1/2 • Garrison was a radical white abolitionist and an editor. He started his own paper called “The Liberator” in 1831 which expressed the need for immediate emancipation Emancipation- the freeing of slaves with no payment to slave-owners.

William Lloyd Garrison 2/2 • Garrison later went on to found the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832. • 3 of every 4 early subscribers were African American and those whites who opposed abolition hated him. • Whites began to dislike him though they may have been abolitionists they disliked the way Garrison would blame the government and churches for not stopping slavery.

Free Blacks • Author David Walker “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World” (1829) preached fighting for freedom rather than waiting for slave owners to end slavery.

Frederick Douglass • Born into slavery (1817) • Taught to read and write by his owners wife, though her husband demanded she stopped • Douglass realized education was his ticket to freedom and worked harder.

• After working as a caulker in Maryland, Douglass borrowed a free blacks official paper and fled to New York. • Once in New York he spoke for Garrison at lectures and later went on to write his own newspaper “The North Star” which guided runaways to freedom.

Life Under Slavery • 1810 -1830 slavery nearly doubled growing from 1. 2 million to 2 million. • By 1830 most of the slaves were born in America – (rather than Africa like generations before) • They knew enough English to be able to communicate with other slaves.

Rural Slavery • By the 1830 s many Southern whites worked on farms leaving little people to work in textiles and on ships which then slaves would do. • Slaves who became artisans in the south would now work as blacksmiths or carpenters. • Most lived rurally 2. 8 million compared to the 400, 000 slaves living in cities. Douglass compared city slaves to rural slaves stating “a city slave is almost a free man” – They were better fed and clothed

Nat Turners Rebellion 1/2 • Nat Turner was born into slavery in 1800. • In 1831 Turner and his men (nearly 80) attacked four plantations killing almost 60 white inhabitants before being captured by state and federal troops.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion 2/2 • Turner hid out for several weeks but was eventually captured and tried and hanged. • Retaliation the whites killed roughly 200 blacks many of them innocent of connection to Turner.

Slave Owners Defend Slavery • After Turner’s Rebellion there were two beliefs, offer emancipation to slaves rather than deal with more revolts or to tighten the restrictions to avoid more revolts.

Virginia Debates 1/2 • Governor of Virginia John Floyd wanted to put in place a law that would slowly abolish slavery over time. • By January 1832 it was a serious discussion in the state. • When the law went to a vote it lost • 73 Against • 58 For the Law

Virginia Debates 2/2 § The main reason: eastern slave-owners were the majority against the law and for slavery. § The west non-slave owners of the state were for the bill. § Antebellum- the pre Civil War era, and the beginning of the rise of the south.

Backlash From Revolts • The slave codes began to form through fear of revolts which would give even tighter restrictions to slave education. – Example: (1833) enslaved blacks were forbade to preach the gospel unless respectable slaveholders were present.

Pro Slavery Defenses • Some pro-slavery advocates used the bible to defend slavery, and justified Christianity and slavery co-existing by citing passages such as servants should obey their masters. • Though abolitionists believed in getting rid of slavery and they began to petition to congress but by 1836 Congress developed the gag rule limiting or preventing debate on an issue, but were lifted in 1844. • Slavery was becoming a hot button issue that would soon divide the nation.