Abolitionists

After the American Revolution, it seemed like America was finally free from their oppressors, Great Britain. Even when they had their sense of freedom tested in the War of 1812, Americans still came out in top. It seemed that Americans were now truly free-well almost all Americans. Those other “people”, namely slaves, were still being held in captivity and forced to work for white people. And since slavery has been in America for a very long time, it seemed like there was no stopping it. Most people wanted to keep it going while others, abolitionists, wanted it to end. Though some abolitionists had peaceful solutions and others had more violent ones, their overall strategies created different reactions from American citizens.

With the first African slaves brought to America in 1619, slavery had steadily grown profitable for the people of the South. With the sudden success of crops like cotton and tobacco, the selling of slaves grew as well. Despite the rising interest in slaves, the process of selling them was a truly horrifying. At auctions, families were routinely split-up and constantly whipped if they refused to part with loved ones. The forceful separation of families like this was a horrific aspect of slavery.

The treatment of slaves at auctions and on plantations caught the attention of many who disagreed with these practices. Eventually societies with the “intent of abolishing slavery” were created and started to gain popularity, predominately in the North. Despite the fact that these “abolitionists” wanted to end slavery, they didn’t like blacks at all. In fact, they wanted them out of the country. And in 1817, The American Colonization Society was founded for this purpose. Though by 1860 all Southern slaves were no longer Africans, but native-born African-Americans, the plan to send them back didn’t fare well. But the idea continued appealed to some anti-slavery people, including Abraham Lincoln, until the time of the Civil War.

With the Liberia idea not working as planned, some abolitionists decided to use more radical forms instead. Many radicals believe that slaves should bear arms and fight against their oppressors similar to what Americans did almost 60 years ago . With the creation of the Liberator and the American Anti-Slavery Society, more radicals joined the movement. Eventually these radicals inspired some blacks to take action. Blacks like Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass, took more practical stances similar to the peaceful abolitionists. Others, like Nat Turner, took more dangerous ones similar to their radical counterparts .

The South now realized how crucial the situation was and decided to strike back. All of the slave states tightened their slave codes and prohibited of any kind mention