Abolitionism in the United States

Abolitionism in the United States was a movement to end slavery through political campaigns, religious organizing, publishing, and direct action. It included people with sharply different strategies and views on race, citizenship, and reform.

Abolitionist newspapers: Periodicals that condemned slavery, circulated antislavery arguments, and reported on the movement. Print carried abolitionist arguments across distance and exposed abuses to wider audiences.
Frederick Douglass: An abolitionist, writer, and orator who escaped slavery and became a leading advocate for emancipation and Black citizenship. His speeches and publications made firsthand testimony central to antislavery advocacy.
Quaker abolitionism: Antislavery activism rooted in Quaker religious beliefs and organizing in the United States. Quaker networks helped establish organized antislavery societies before the movement’s 1830s surge.
Emancipation Proclamation: An 1863 wartime proclamation declaring enslaved people free in areas still in rebellion against the United States. It made emancipation a stated Union war aim, though it did not free everyone enslaved.
Gradual emancipation: A policy of ending slavery over time rather than freeing enslaved people immediately. Immediate abolitionists rejected delays that prolonged enslavement.
Underground Railroad: An informal network that helped enslaved people escape to free states and Canada. Its routes and safe houses turned antislavery commitment into practical aid for escape.
William Lloyd Garrison: An American abolitionist journalist who founded the antislavery newspaper The Liberator in 1831. His uncompromising editorials helped define immediate emancipation as a movement demand.
American Colonization Society: An organization founded in 1816 that promoted the emigration of free Black Americans to Africa, especially Liberia. Its gradualist colonization program differed from abolitionists demanding emancipation in the United States.
Thirteenth Amendment: The constitutional amendment ratified in 1865 that abolished slavery in the United States, with an exception for criminal punishment. It achieved abolition nationally through constitutional law.
Garrisonian abolitionism: The abolitionist current associated with William Lloyd Garrison, emphasizing immediate emancipation and moral persuasion. Its nonresistant principles differed from abolitionists who accepted political action or force.

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