2. Americans Oppose Slavery
In the 1830’s Americans took a more
organized action supporting abolition
o Abolition : A complete end to slavery
3. Though many wanted to see the African
American set free many would argue about
how much freedom they should have.
o Some thought they should have the same as the
white Americans
o Some were against full political and social
equality
o Some wanted to send them back to Africa to set
up colonies.
4. Thought this would prevent conflicts
between the races in the U.S.
American Colonization Society
An organization dedicated to establishing
colonies of freed slaves in Africa
Founded the colony of Liberia on the west coast
of Africa.
5. Spreading the Word
• William Lloyd Garrison
Published an abolitionist newspaper, the
Liberator beginning in 1831.
Garrison helped start the American Anti-
Slavery Society its member wanted immediate
emancipation and racial equality for African
Americans.
o Both the Liberator and the American Anti-Slavery
Society members spread antislavery literature and
petitioned Congress to end federal support of
slavery.
6. Angelina and Sarah Grimke
Two white southern women, who came from a
South Carolina Slave holding family but
disagreed with their parents support of slavery
o Wrote American Slavery As It Is in 1839 and the
book was one of the most important antislavery
works of its time.
7. Frederick Douglass
Douglass escaped from slavery when he was
20 and went on to become one the most
important leaders in the 1800s.
o He had secretly learned to read and write as a
boy (despite the law against it)
8. o His public speaking skills
were impressive and
members of the Anti-Slavery
Society would ask him to give
regular lectures.
o He also published a
newspaper called the North
Star and wrote several
autobiographies.
9. The Underground Railroad
By the 1830s a
loosely organized
group had begun
helping slaves
escape from the
south.
o Free African
Americans, former
slaves and a few
white abolitionists
worked together.
10. The Underground
Railroad: was not an
actual railroad but was a
network of people who
arranged transportation
and hiding places for
fugitives or escaped
slaves.
o Fugitives would travel
along “freedom trails” to
northern state or Canada.
11. o There was never a central
leadership
o The people who led the
groups to freedom were
called “conductors” ( one of
the most famous conductors
was Harriet Tubman)
o Places they stopped were
called “stations”
o People who owned the
places that they stopped at
were called “ Station masters”
12. Not All People in the North
Opposed Slavery
Newspapers and politicians warned that freed
slaves would move north and take jobs from
white workers.
Abolitionist leaders were threaten with violence
( a mob even killed one abolitionist leader Elijah
Lovejoy)
13. Congress used the “gag rule”: is a rule that
limits or forbids the raising, consideration or
discussion.
o North saw it as too touchy as a subject
o South did not want to debate it
14. New Land Renews Slavery
Disputes
After winning the Mexican
American war in 1848, the
United States added
500,000 square miles of
land.
o The addition of land brought
up the debate of slavery
o The Missouri Compromise of
1820 divided the Louisiana
Purchase, prohibiting slavery
north of 36 degrees 30’ line
latitude.
15. Polk wanted to extend
this line to the west
coast
Others wanted to
extend Popular
Sovereignty
The idea that political
power belongs to the
people.
oThe people should
decide on banning
or allowing slavery.
16. California Question
o The gold rush had
caused such a rapid
population growth, that
California applied to
join the Union as a
state instead of as a
territory.
But would it be a free
state or a slave state?
17. It looked as though it
was leaning towards
free, slavery was illegal
when it was under the
control of Mexico and
most of the settlers
were from free states.
• the South was upset
that it looked like there
would be in imbalance
between the states if
California entered as a
free state
18. Compromise of 1850
“The Great Compromiser”
Henry Clay had a plan
again.
California would enter the
Union as a free state
The rest of the Mexican
Cession would be federal
land, and popular
sovereignty would decide
on slavery
19. Texas would give up land on the east of the
upper Rio Grande, so that the government
would pay Texas debts from when it was an
independent republic.
The slave trade…. But not slavery would in
the capital
A more effective fugitive slave law would be
passed.
20. • Not everyone was happy
with this compromise,
John C. Calhoun of South
Carolina didn’t want
California entering as a
free state because it
would destroy the
balance, he would asked
that the slave states be
allowed to secede or
formally withdraw from
the union.
21. Fugitive Slave Act
o Newly passed, made it a
crime to help runaway
slaves and allowed officials
to arrest those slaves in
free areas.
Slaveholders could use
testimony from white
witnesses, but enslaved
African Americans accused
of being fugitives could not
testify.
Commissioners who rejected
a slaveholders claim earned
$5 while those who returned
a suspected fugitive to
slaveholders earned $10
22. Northerners disliked
the idea of a trial
without a jury, also
they disapproved of
the commissioners
higher fees for the
returning slaves.
The most horrifying
part was that some
free African
Americans had been
captured and sent to
the south.
23. Anti-Slavery Literature
o Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher
Stowe
Spoke out powerfully
against slavery
She was a daughter of a
preacher who had met
fugitive slaves and learned
about the cruelties of slavery
It was published in 1852,
within a decade it sold more
than 2 million copies.