Analysis of The Abolition Movement (Essay Sample)

Abolition Movement
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Abolition Movement
The Abolition movement was a prearranged struggle to finish the exercise of captivity in the United States. The first founders of the movement, which existed from 1830 to 1870, imitated tactics by British abolitionists’ that had ended captivity in Britain in the 1830s. The movement had been born from the inception of the Atlantic slave trade, where detractors declared their condemnation of the practice. The resolution was supposed to be a negotiation between the antislavery advocates and captivity exponents. It began as a religious association but later became political, which brought so much controversy. Devotees and detractors battled in deadly arguments and also violence. This led to the propulsion of the movement alongside other factors leading to civil war and finally ended slavery in the United States. An abolitionist is an individual who pursued to stop captivity in the 19th century. These people pursued the direct and total liberation of all enslaved persons.
Being part of the movement was because they saw captivity as a disgrace and a misfortune for the United States, making it their objective to eliminate captivity. Other reasons were religious grounds, declaration of independence gave people liberty and they also slavery to be a curse. One of the members was William Lloyd Garrison, who began a journal entitled the liberator, which advocated the liberation of enslaved persons. Another member was Frederick Douglas, who had gotten away from captivity and issued a biography called Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave. Harriet Tubman was an enslaved person who assisted in escaping people to the North through the Underground Rail system. Other members included Harriet Beecher, John Brown, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner truth etc., who wrote novels or helped in one way or another, like escaping the slaves to eliminate slavery in America. To stop the abolition movement, Congress implemented the gag rule, which prohibited Congress members from debating antislavery petitions they got. Many Southern members of Congress thought slavery was essential to the economy and culture. Some Northern Americans also feared that the end of slavery would make the slaves move to the North and take jobs from white workers. They also thought that these slaves would be willing to work for the whites in the North in compensation for lower wages.
To Frederick Douglas, July 4th meant a sham, bragged freedom, a blasphemous authorization for enslaving people, cries of freedom and fairness and resonating ridicule. He contemplates such a captivity attitude as wickedness since it gives brutality a dwelling in God’s nature.