Growing Slavery And The Anti-slavery Movement In America

The growing opposition to slavery in the US from 1776-1852 was caused by the addition of new territory, the prevalence of social reform, and the spread of anti-slavery literature. However, the change from slavery to no slavery was incredibly gradual, and was not a dramatic change. While some people advocated for abolition, many more still opposed the change because slavery was essential to the development and growth of the economy, and many people thought that the removal would send the country into chaos. Novels such as Uncle Tom's Cabin brought up the issue of families being broken up by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Other authors, such as Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became an abolitionist, convinced the masses that slavery was inherently wrong by publishing “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” where he graphically depicts his life as a slave and what caused him to turn around and become confident enough to stand up for himself and his people. The Liberator was the first anti-slavery newspaper created by Garrison in Boston. With this newspaper he was able to openly express his beliefs towards slavery, but this was one of the first movements towards the Civil War. Newspaper and book publications also revealed the institution's cruelties to mass audiences, mostly in North, which propelled anti-slavery sentiment. Moral opposition to slavery was evident since the colonial period, and only grew in strength and power as time went on. Northern states such as New York and Pennsylvania provided for the gradual emancipation of slaves allowing the territories to wean themselves off slavery so the economy wouldn’t be damaged. This allowed for them to gradually prepare for lives without slavery. William Lloyd Garrison, a famous abolitionist, called for the end of slavery throughout the country, saying that “we shall organize anti-slavery socities… send forth agents,” and “we will do all that in us lies… to overthrow… slavery.” 

His radical speeches and movements convinced more and more people to join the abolitionist movement. Furthermore, in a petition presented to Congress in 1820, they observed that “The least observation shows that this description of persons… cannot be… useful and happy among us… that there should be a separation…” Their conclusion was to send the Africans back to Liberia and separate them from the whites, as they clearly weren’t happy among them. However, this posed many problems as there were too many to send all of them to Liberia, and most of them weren’t actually from Africa anyways as many were born as slaves in America. A letter of introduction written for the Reverend Mr. Gloucester to Samuel Bayard in 1810 clearly illustrated the growing moral opposition to slavery. An African American minister was gifted $500 by the residents of Philadelphia so that he could build himself a church. The northerners felt that whites and blacks were more or less fundamental equals and they claimed that the minister’s personal success would benefit the entire community, regardless of skin color. However charitable this act might have been, this was merely an act of kindness by individuals of a community, and was not yet an example of radical change in the world. This was a charitable act by the northern people to someone African American of worth. This did, however, show a growing of number in the population that opposed slavery. Overall, the path to abolition was not easy. Many opposed it, but many also supported it. While there were individual acts of kindness, such as for the Reverend and the posters put up by Theodore Parker, those were only in small pockets and did not represent the ideas of the country as a whole. Full abolition was a long time coming, but these documents prove that many people were fighting for the cause.