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    Abolitionists Effecting Change

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    Kyle Richardson
    The document discusses the role of individuals in effecting change through the abolitionist movement. It explains that abolitionists had both moral and political rationales for ending slavery. From a moral perspective, Christians saw all people as equal in God's eyes and felt slavery brought unjust suffering. Politically, some saw slavery as unconstitutional and preventing economic opportunities. Abolitionists also supported reforms in education, prisons, and voting rights. They used pamphlets, novels, lectures, and organizations to spread their message and gain supporters for ending slavery. The Civil War further aided their cause by turning the war into a fight against slavery.

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    Abolitionists Effecting Change

    Uploaded by

    Kyle Richardson
    3K views1 page
    The document discusses the role of individuals in effecting change through the abolitionist movement. It explains that abolitionists had both moral and political rationales for ending slavery. From a moral perspective, Christians saw all people as equal in God's eyes and felt slavery brought unjust suffering. Politically, some saw slavery as unconstitutional and preventing economic opportunities. Abolitionists also supported reforms in education, prisons, and voting rights. They used pamphlets, novels, lectures, and organizations to spread their message and gain supporters for ending slavery. The Civil War further aided their cause by turning the war into a fight against slavery.

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    The document discusses the role of individuals in effecting change through the abolitionist movement. It explains that abolitionists had both moral and political rationales for ending slavery. From a moral perspective, Christians saw all people as equal in God's eyes and felt slavery brought unjust suffering. Politically, some saw slavery as unconstitutional and preventing economic opportunities. Abolitionists also supported reforms in education, prisons, and voting rights. They used pamphlets, novels, lectures, and organizations to spread their message and gain supporters for ending slavery. The Civil War further aided their cause by turning the war into a fight against slavery.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    3K views1 page

    Abolitionists Effecting Change

    Uploaded by

    Kyle Richardson
    The document discusses the role of individuals in effecting change through the abolitionist movement. It explains that abolitionists had both moral and political rationales for ending slavery. From a moral perspective, Christians saw all people as equal in God's eyes and felt slavery brought unjust suffering. Politically, some saw slavery as unconstitutional and preventing economic opportunities. Abolitionists also supported reforms in education, prisons, and voting rights. They used pamphlets, novels, lectures, and organizations to spread their message and gain supporters for ending slavery. The Civil War further aided their cause by turning the war into a fight against slavery.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Kyle Richardson Monday, December 7, 2009

    Abolition - The Role of the Individual in Effecting Change

    1. Explain both a moral and political rationale for abolition.


    a. Coming from a moral perspective, citizens had many reasons to fight in the
    abolitionist movement. The first major moral rationale was about more than just
    morality; it was about religion. The fight for abolition coming from the Christian side was
    strong because these Christians believed that it was a responsibility of the church to
    correct societal wrongs. One part of society that was viewed as wrong was the
    institution slavery. Christians viewed all people as equal in the eyes of God and felt that
    all people should be equal in the eyes of each other as well. More moralistic and ethics
    based approaches came from secular movements and their leaders who saw that
    slavery brought unjust suffering upon other human beings and that it showed a lack of
    equality, which that government had been founded upon.
    b. Slavery was questioned not only from a moral view, but from an economic and
    political view as well. Some politicians supported the abolitionist movement because
    they saw it as being greatly unconstitutional. They believed that one of the goals of the
    Constitution was to bring equality to all men, and this fit snuggly with the abolitionist
    goals too. People were politically passionate when it came to slavery, and some even
    created a new political party supporting the abolition of slaves. The Free Soil party saw
    that the institution of slavery was corrupt and prevented a honest white man from
    earning a honest wage. In midst of the Civil war, the political side of abolition was
    apparent when it came to freeing contraband slaves and when Lincoln issued the
    Emancipation Proclamation. Politicians who supported the Union favored abolition
    because it would weaken the Confederacy and help to end the war.
    2. Those reformers who were a part of the abolitionist movement also favored other
    societal reforms. Those who called themselves reformers were composed a group of moral
    and upstanding citizens who were possibly involved in church communities or a part of new
    groups of thinkers. They took it upon themselves not only to right the wrong of slavery, but
    to right the wrongs in education, prison, and voting. These people were in favor of an
    overall change in society. Followers of these respective movements were influenced by
    their leader’s values as well, and these leaders could have been proponents of more than
    one cause.
    3. The abolitionist used an arsenal of strategies and tactics to spread support for their
    cause and see to it that slaves were freed. One of the most popular forms of sharing their
    ideas was by using a flood of pamphlets that were spread throughout the country. They
    educated people on their reasons for hating slavery and about why they wished to end it.
    Novels and stories also helped to gain support for the abolitionist movement. These works
    included books by the Grimke sisters and the infamous Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Lectures also
    had a large affect on the opinion of slavery and helped to educate American students about
    its savage nature. Organizations also sprung up around the country that facilitated the
    movement against slavery and helped to rally supporters to action. A huge weapon used
    by abolitionists against slavery was the Civil War itself. Abolitionists turned this war to
    preserve the Union into a war against slavery, was gained supported not only for the North,
    but for the abolitionists as well.

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