Anti-Slavery Movement in American in the 1800's, also deals with Uncle Toms Cabin, Abolitionists such as Douglass and Garrison.

1. Chapter 15 Anti- Slavery/
California

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.