Abolitionism and Women's Rights

Abolitionism and Women's Rights

How did the abolition movement develop in the 1800s?

Some Americans had opposed slavery since colonial times. Followers of certain faiths, such as Quakers, opposed slavery on moral grounds. The American Revolutionary period saw opposition to slavery grow. Many people who condemned slavery pointed to the Declaration of Independence's assertion that "all men are created equal" to argue that slavery was incompatible with the nation's basic principles. Northern states began to outlaw slavery during this period.

Ending slavery, however, was not the same as ending racism. Free blacks still faced challenges posed by racial discrimination in American society. The American Colonization Society (ACS), founded in 1816, proposed sending free blacks to Africa as a solution. In 1821, the ACS acquired land in West Africa, where it founded a colony for freed American slaves. About 12,000 blacks, a very small percentage of the free black population, moved from the US to the new colony in the following decades. Today, that colony is the country of Liberia.

By the 1830s, a movement for the immediate complete abolition of slavery grew. To spread their message, abolitionists used publications, conferences and speaking tours. For example, William Lloyd Garrison began publishing The Liberator in 1831. This abolitionist newspaper, published in Boston, increased support for abolitionism. In 1833, Garrison and other abolitionists founded the American Anti-Slavery Society, an organization dedicated to immediate abolition. By 1840, there were more than 2,000 branches of the organization.

Free blacks led in the fight for abolition. Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838. He became a brilliant writer and speaker who traveled widely, lecturing on his experiences and the evils of slavery. In 1845, he published an autobiography recounting his years living in slavery. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. He later founded an abolitionist newspaper called The North Star. Former slave Sojourner Truth began lecturing across the country for the abolitionist cause in the 1840s. In 1851, she delivered a speech called "Ain't I a Woman?" at a woman's rights convention.

Some abolitionists actively helped slaves escape to freedom. They formed part of the Underground Railroad, a network that helped slaves escape to the North or Canada. Along the path of a "freedom trail," there would be "stations" for hiding. "Conductors" helped lead slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and became a conductor, helping hundreds of other blacks to escape slavery.

​abolition a complete end to slavery

Frederick Douglass African American who escaped from slavery and became an important abolitionist

Underground Railroad network of safe houses for leading slaves to freedom

Multiple Choice

-Born into slavery, but escaped to freedom and became involved in both the abolitionist and women's rights movements

-known for her "Ain't I a Woman? speech in 1851

Which historical figure does the list above describe?

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton

• Sojourner Truth

• Anne Hutchinson

• Pocahontas

Why did the struggle for women's rights gain strength in the 1800s?

Many women worked tirelessly in the fight for abolition and greater rights for African Americans, as well as in the temperance and other reform movements. Women had few legal rights, however. Women also could not vote or sit on juries. Married women did not have the right to own property; any property a woman brought into a marriage became her husband's property. Women were often criticized for speaking in public on behalf of issues.

Seneca Falls Convention Demands for women's rights began early in the nation's history, and by the 1800s, many American women were better educated and had participated in other reform movements. They began a more organized, public effort to fight for their rights.

In 1840, after being denied participation in the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton vowed to form a society to fight a woman's rights. Mott and Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention, which was held in July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. Delegates adopted the Declaration of Sentiments, a document drafted by Stanton and modeled after the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Sentiments listed the wrong women faced and their demands for change. The declaration included a resolution demanding suffrage, or the right to vote. This was a radical and controversial demand for that era.

The Fight for Rights Continues The fight for women's rights continued for many years after the convention. Susan B. Anthony became a leading women's rights activist and president of the National American Suffrage Association. Though the women's rights movement achieved some successes, the fight for women's suffrage would continue for decades to come. Women throughout the US were not granted the right to vote until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton women's rights activist who organized the Seneca Falls Convention; co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869

Seneca Falls Convention women's rights convention held in 1848; passed a resolution demanding women's suffrage

Susan B. Anthony women's rights activist; co-founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association

Multiple Choice

Seneca Falls Convention, July 1848

-The nation's first women's rights convention

-?????

Which of the following best completes the list above?

• brought together the two main rival women's suffrage groups

• endorsed a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery

• ratified the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote

• issued the Declaration of Sentiments, calling for voting rights for women