Northern Abolitionism Vs. Southern Justifications of Slavery Northern

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Northern Abolitionism Vs. Southern Justifications of Slavery Northern Northern Abolitionism vs. Southern Justifications of Slavery Northern/Western Perceptions of South, and U.S., pre-Civil War Many Northerners are: 1. not active, or even interested in, abolitionism 2. hostile to pro-slavery leaders and anti-slavery leaders; BUT 3. support “free soil” movement (i.e. no slavery, or takeover of land by plantation owners in the expanding West) 4. support tariff and urban industry SUM: While most Northerners do not want to fight to end slavery, their economic interests (free soil, pro-tariff, pro-industry) lead them to eventually oppose Southern interests Protestant religion serves as resistance to Northern and Southern status quo Northern utopian communities (communalism) – more radical change social relations of race, class and gender; private property; family, sexuality and marriage how beliefs relate promises of the American revolution and help create future Civil War 1. Oneida and John Noyes – Mutual Criticism; Oneida factories; Complex Marriage 2. Mormons and Joseph Smith – polygamy/plural marriage; New York, Indiana, Utah Black Protestant Churches: stress Biblical interpretation which promise ultimate justice and mercy for those who suffer examples include Israelites leaving Egypt; persecution of Christ Phases of Abolitionism: American Colonization Society – gradual end to slavery through peaceful means; Abraham Lincoln was a member for a short period of time when young William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator - “immediatist”; immediate end to slavery through peaceful resistance Frederick Douglass and John Brown, immediatism and violent end to slavery Changes in Southern ideological justification for slavery early colonies to Revolution: apology for slavery; see it as a necessary evil time of Constitution: gradualism generally, before 1830s most white southerners admitted, on some level, that slavery was wrong in land of freedom after 1830s, Southern supporters argue a mix of the following: 1. noblesse oblige: “disinterested benevolence” – (i.e. We feed, shelter etc., care for sick slaves; 2. we have constitutional right to slaves as private property; 3. abolition and emancipation of slaves will lead to violence 4. slaves are racially inferior White Society in South: SUM OVER TIME: seat of radical challenge during Revolution becomes seat of conservative resistance to change, pro-authority/govt by the 1830s Southern Sectional Differences From the North by 1850s 1. No urbanization in the South (eventually, cities seen as mildly subversive) life revolved around each large plantation 2. No industrialization in South; eventually, elite So. opposes large industrialization plantation owners invest profits in cotton and slaves, leaving no $ for ind; owners oppose: a. the protective tariff which supports U.S. industrialization; b. manufacturing which provides labor alternative to agricultural work on plantations for slave population c. growing foreign immigrant population works in Northern factories d. federal support given to No. industrialists (ex. pro-tariff) 3. Southern society divided by both property and region 4. Less education in the South – even for white Southerners in 1834, 20% of white southerners could not read/write vs. 1% in New England Southern Perceptions of the North Growing sense of isolation and resentment of North by white Southerners who (mistakenly) begin to see all Northerners as abolitionists even though these are rare in actual Northern population .
Recommended publications
  • Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative
    FIFTH THOUSAND TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE. NARRATIVE OF SOLOMON NORTHUP, A CITIZEN OF NEW-YORK, KIDNAPPED IN WASHINGTON CITY IN 1841, AND RESCUED IN 1853, FROM A COTTON PLANTATION NEAR THE RED RIVER, IN LOUISIANA. AUBURN: DERBY AND MILLER. BUFFALO: DERBY, ORTON AND MULLIGAN. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON & COMPANY, 47 LUDGATE HILL. 1853. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, by D E R B Y A N D M ILLER , In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New-York. ENTERED IN LONDON AT STATIONERS' HALL. TO HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: WHOSE NAME, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, IS IDENTIFIED WITH THE GREAT REFORM: THIS NARRATIVE, AFFORDING ANOTHER Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED "Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone To reverence what is ancient, and can plead A course of long observance for its use, That even servitude, the worst of ills, Because delivered down from sire to son, Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing. But is it fit, or can it bear the shock Of rational discussion, that a man Compounded and made up, like other men, Of elements tumultuous, in whom lust And folly in as ample measure meet, As in the bosom of the slave he rules, Should be a despot absolute, and boast Himself the only freeman of his land?" Cowper. [Pg vii] CONTENTS. PAGE. EDITOR'S PREFACE, 15 CHAPTER I. Introductory—Ancestry—The Northup Family—Birth and Parentage—Mintus Northup—Marriage with Anne Hampton—Good Resolutions—Champlain Canal—Rafting Excursion to Canada— Farming—The Violin—Cooking—Removal to Saratoga—Parker and Perry—Slaves and Slavery— The Children—The Beginning of Sorrow, 17 CHAPTER II.
    [Show full text]
  • Can Words Lead to War?
    Middle School Uncle Tom’s Cabin Inquiry Can Words Lead to War? Full-page illustration from first edition Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Hammatt Billings. Available in Uncle Tom’s Cabin & American Culture. Supporting Questions 1. How did Harriet Beecher Stowe describe slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin? 2. What led Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin? 3. How did northerners and southerners react to Uncle Tom’s Cabin? 4. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin affect abolitionism? THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION- NONCOMMERCIAL- SHAREALIKE 4.0 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE. 1 Middle School Uncle Tom’s Cabin Inquiry Can Words Lead to War? Framework for Summary Objective 12: Students will understand the growth of the abolitionist movement in the Teaching American 1830s and the Southern view of the movement as a physical, economic and political threat. Slavery Consider the power of words and examine a video of students using words to try to bring about Staging the Question positive change. Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question 2 Supporting Question 3 Supporting Question 4 How did Harriet Beecher What led Harriet Beecher How did people in the How did Uncle Tom’s Stowe describe slavery in Stowe to write Uncle North and South react to Cabin affect abolitionism? Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Tom’s Cabin? Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Formative Formative Formative Formative Performance Task Performance Task Performance Task Performance Task Complete a source analysis List four quotes from the Make a T-chart comparing Participate in a structured chart to write a summary sources that point to the viewpoints expressed discussion regarding the of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that Stowe’s motivation and in northern and southern impact Uncle Tom’s Cabin includes main ideas and write a paragraph newspaper reviews of had on abolitionism.
    [Show full text]
  • Abolitionist Movement
    Abolitionist Movement The goal of the abolitionist movement was the immediate emancipation of all slaves and the end of racial discrimination and segregation. Advocating for immediate emancipation distinguished abolitionists from more moderate anti-slavery advocates who argued for gradual emancipation, and from free-soil activists who sought to restrict slavery to existing areas and prevent its spread further west. Radical abolitionism was partly fueled by the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening, which prompted many people to advocate for emancipation on religious grounds. Abolitionist ideas became increasingly prominent in Northern churches and politics beginning in the 1830s, which contributed to the regional animosity between North and South leading up to the Civil War. The Underground Railroad c.1780 - 1862 The Underground Railroad, a vast network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada, was not run by any single organization or person. Rather, it consisted of many individuals -- many whites but predominantly black -- who knew only of the local efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. Still, it effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward each year -- according to one estimate, the South lost 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850. Still, only a small percentage of escaping slaves received assistance from the Underground Railroad. An organized system to assist runaway slaves seems to have begun towards the end of the 18th century. In 1786 George Washington complained about how one of his runaway slaves was helped by a "society of Quakers, formed for such purposes." The system grew, and around 1831 it was dubbed "The Underground Railroad," after the then emerging steam railroads.
    [Show full text]
  • The Slave's Cause: a History of Abolition
    Civil War Book Review Summer 2016 Article 5 The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition Corey M. Brooks Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cwbr Recommended Citation Brooks, Corey M. (2016) "The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition," Civil War Book Review: Vol. 18 : Iss. 3 . DOI: 10.31390/cwbr.18.3.06 Available at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cwbr/vol18/iss3/5 Brooks: The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition Review Brooks, Corey M. Summer 2016 Sinha, Manisha The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition. Yale University Press, $37.50 ISBN 9780300181371 The New Essential History of American Abolitionism Manisha Sinha’s The Slave’s Cause is ambitious in size, scope, and argument. Covering the entirety of American abolitionist history from the colonial era through the Civil War, Sinha, Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, presents copious original research and thoughtfully and thoroughly mines the substantial body of recent abolitionist scholarship. In the process, Sinha makes a series of potent, carefully intertwined arguments that stress the radical and interracial dimensions and long-term continuities of the American abolitionist project. The Slave’s Cause portrays American abolitionists as radical defenders of democracy against countervailing pressures imposed both by racism and by the underside of capitalist political economy. Sinha goes out of her way to repudiate outmoded views of abolitionists as tactically unsophisticated utopians, overly sentimental romantics, or bourgeois apologists subconsciously rationalizing the emergent capitalism of Anglo-American “free labor" society. In positioning her work against these interpretations, Sinha may somewhat exaggerate the staying power of that older historiography, as most (though surely not all) current scholars in the field would likely concur wholeheartedly with Sinha’s valorization of abolitionists as freedom fighters who achieved great change against great odds.
    [Show full text]
  • The PAS and American Abolitionism: a Century of Activism from the American Revolutionary Era to the Civil War
    The PAS and American Abolitionism: A Century of Activism from the American Revolutionary Era to the Civil War By Richard S. Newman, Associate Professor of History Rochester Institute of Technology The Pennsylvania Abolition Society was the world's most famous antislavery group during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Indeed, although not as memorable as many later abolitionists (from William Lloyd Garrison and Lydia Maria Child to Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth), Pennsylvania reformers defined the antislavery movement for an entire generation of activists in the United States, Europe, and even the Caribbean. If you were an enlightened citizen of the Atlantic world following the American Revolution, then you probably knew about the PAS. Benjamin Franklin, a former slaveholder himself, briefly served as the organization's president. French philosophes corresponded with the organization, as did members of John Adams’ presidential Cabinet. British reformers like Granville Sharp reveled in their association with the PAS. It was, Sharp told told the group, an "honor" to be a corresponding member of so distinguished an organization.1 Though no supporter of the formal abolitionist movement, America’s “first man” George Washington certainly knew of the PAS's prowess, having lived for several years in the nation's temporary capital of Philadelphia during the 1790s. So concerned was the inaugural President with abolitionist agitation that Washington even shuttled a group of nine slaves back and forth between the Quaker State and his Mount Vernon home (still, two of his slaves escaped). The PAS was indeed a powerful abolitionist organization. PAS Origins The roots of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society date to 1775, when a group of mostly Quaker men met at a Philadelphia tavern to discuss antislavery measures.
    [Show full text]
  • Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; a Literary Weapon
    PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Tlemcen Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of English Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; a Literary Weapon Against Slavery Dissertation submitted to the Department of English as a partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Literature and Civilization Presented by Supervised by Ms.Tasnim BELAIDOUNI Ms.Meriem MENGOUCHI BOARD OF EXAMINERS Dr. Wassila MOURO Chairwoman Ms. Meriem MENGOUCHI Supervisor Dr. Frid DAOUDI Examiner Academic Year: 2016/2017 Dedications To those who believed in me To those who helped me through hard times To my Mother, my family and my friends I dedicate this work ii Acknowledgements Immense loads of gratitude and thanks are addressed to my teacher and supervisor Ms. Meriem MENGOUCHI; this work could have never come to existence without your vivacious guidance, constant encouragement, and priceless advice and patience. My sincerest acknowledgements go to the board of examiners namely; Dr. Wassila MOURO and Dr. Frid DAOUDI My deep gratitude to all my teachers iii Abstract Harriet Ann Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl seemed not to be the only literary work which tackled the issue of woman in slavery. However, this autobiography is the first published slave narrative written in the nineteenth century. In fact, the primary purpose of this research is to dive into Incidents in order to examine the author’s portrayal of a black female slave fighting for her freedom and her rights. On the other hand, Jacobs shows that despite the oppression and the persecution of an enslaved woman, she did not remain silent, but she strived to assert herself.
    [Show full text]
  • Slave Revolts and the Abolition of Slavery: an Overinterpretation João Pedro Marques
    Part I Slave Revolts and the Abolition of Slavery: An Overinterpretation João Pedro Marques Translated from the Portuguese by Richard Wall "WHO ABOLISHED SLAVERY?: Slave Revolts and Abolitionism, A Debate with João Pedro Marques" Edited by Seymour Drescher and Pieter C. Emmer. http://berghahnbooks.com/title/DrescherWho "WHO ABOLISHED SLAVERY?: Slave Revolts and Abolitionism, A Debate with João Pedro Marques" Edited by Seymour Drescher and Pieter C. Emmer. http://berghahnbooks.com/title/DrescherWho INTRODUCTION t the beginning of the nineteenth century, Thomas Clarkson por- Atrayed the anti-slavery movement as a river of ideas that had swollen over time until it became an irrepressible torrent. Clarkson had no doubt that it had been the thought and action of all of those who, like Raynal, Benezet, and Wilberforce, had advocated “the cause of the injured Afri- cans” in Europe and in North America, which had ultimately lead to the abolition of the British slave trade, one of the first steps toward abolition of slavery itself.1 In our times, there are several views on what led to abolition and they all differ substantially from the river of ideas imagined by Clarkson. Iron- ically, for one of those views, it is as if Clarkson’s river had reversed its course and started to flow from its mouth to its source. Anyone who, for example, opens the UNESCO web page (the Slave Route project) will have access to an eloquent example of that approach, so radically opposed to Clarkson’s. In effect, one may read there that, “the first fighters for the abolition
    [Show full text]
  • N the Changing Shape of Pro-Slavery Arguments in the Netherlands (1789- 1814)
    3 n the changing shape of pro-slavery arguments in the Netherlands (1789- 1814) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236-463320161402 Pepjin Brandon Department of History, VU Amsterdam International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands [email protected] Abstract: One of the puzzling questions about the formal Dutch abolition of the slave- trade in 1814 is why a state that was so committed to maintaining slavery in its Empire did not put up any open resistance to the enforced closing of the trade that fed it. The explanations that historians have given so far for this paradox focus mainly on circumstances within the Netherlands, highlighting the pre-1800 decline of the role of Dutch traders in the African slave-trade, the absence of a popular abolitionist movement, and the all-overriding focus within elite-debates on the question of economic decline. This article argues that the (often partial) advanced made by abolitionism internationally did have a pronounced influence on the course of Dutch debates. This can be seen not only from the pronouncements by a small minority that advocated abolition, but also in the arguments produced by the proponents of a continuation of slavery. Careful examination of the three key debates about the question that took place in 1789-1791, 1797 and around 1818 can show how among dominant circles within the Dutch state a new ideology gradually took hold that combined verbal concessions to abolitionist arguments and a grinding acknowledgement of the inevitability of slave-trade abolition with a long-term perspective for prolonging slave-based colonial production in the West-Indies.
    [Show full text]
  • ABOLITIONISTS and the CONSTITUTION Library of Congress/Theodore R
    ABOLITIONISTS AND THE CONSTITUTION Library of Congress/Theodore R. Davis R. Congress/Theodore of Library The Constitution allowed Congress to ban the importation of slaves in 1808, but slave auctions, like the one pictured here, continued in southern states in the 19th century. Two great abolitionists, William Lloyd Garrison and deep-seated moral sentiments that attracted many Frederick Douglass, once allies, split over the Constitu- followers (“Garrisonians”), but also alienated many tion. Garrison believed it was a pro-slavery document others, including Douglass. from its inception. Douglass strongly disagreed. Garrison and Northern Secession Today, many Americans disagree about how to in- Motivated by strong, personal Christian convic- terpret the Constitution. This is especially true with our tions, Garrison was an uncompromising speaker and most controversial social issues. For example, Ameri- writer on the abolition of slavery. In 1831, Garrison cans disagree over what a “well-regulated militia” launched his own newspaper, The Liberator, in means in the Second Amendment, or whether the gov- Boston, to preach the immediate end of slavery to a ernment must always have “probable cause” under the national audience. In his opening editorial, he in- Fourth Amendment to investigate terrorism suspects. formed his readers of his then radical intent: “I will These kinds of disagreements about interpretation are not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard!” not new. In fact, they have flared up since the Consti- Garrison also co-founded the American Anti- tutional Convention in 1787. One major debate over the Slavery Society (AAS) in Boston, which soon had Constitution’s meaning caused a rift in the abolitionist over 200,000 members in several Northern cities.
    [Show full text]
  • Tubman Home for the Aged/Harriet Tubman Residence/Thompson
    NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK NOMINATION NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 TUBMAN HOME FOR THE AGED, HARRIET TUBMAN RESIDENCE AND THOMPSON A.M.E. ZION CHURCH Page 1 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service__________________________________________National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: TUBMAN HOME FOR THE AGED, HARRIET TUBMAN RESIDENCE, THOMPSON A.M.E. ZION CHUCH Other Name/Site Number: Harriet Tubman District Properties Relating to Harriet Tubman in Auburn, NY 2. LOCATION Street & Number: 180 South Street Not for publication: 182 South Street 33 Parker Street City/Town: Auburn Vicinity: State: NY County: Cayuga Code: Oil Zip Code: 13201 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Category of Property Private: X Building(s): X Public-Local: __ District: ___ Public-State: __ Site: ___ Public-Federal: Structure: Object: Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing 3 4 buildings _ sites __ structures __ objects 4 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register: 4 Name of Related Multiple Property Listing: (National Register)Historic Properties Relating to Harriet Tubman in Auburn, New York 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 TUBMAN HOME FOR THE AGED, HARRIET TUBMAN RESIDENCE AND THOMPSON A.M.E. ZION CHURCH Page 2 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this __ nomination __ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide to the Underground Railroad in New Jersey
    N EW J ERSEY’ S U NDERGROUND R AILROAD H ERITAGE “Steal Away, Steal Away...” A Guide to the Underground Railroad in New Jersey N EW J ERSEY H ISTORICAL C OMMISSION Introduction Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus Steal away, steal away home, I ain’t got long to stay here — Negro spiritual ome of those daring and artful runaway slaves who entered New Jersey by way of the Underground Railroad (UGRR) no doubt sang the words of old Negro spirituals like "Steal Away" before embarking on their perilous journey north. The lyrics of these S precious black folk songs indeed often had double meanings, serving as code songs that conveyed plans to escape the yoke of bondage. The phrase "steal away" thus meant absconding; "Jesus" and "home" symbolized the yearned for freedom in the North; and the words "I ain’t got long to stay here" meant that flight northward was imminent. Running away as a form of protest by slaves against their bondage is as old as African enslavement itself on American soil. The first European settlement on land that would ultimately become part of the United States of America, a Spanish colony established in 1526 in the area of present-day were connected to the Underground Railroad, that secret South Carolina, witnessed the flight of its slaves; it is said they network of persons and places—sometimes well organized and fled to neighboring Indians. The presence of African slaves in other times loosely structured—that helped southern runaway the British colonies of North America, whose history begins slaves reach safety in the northern states and Canada.
    [Show full text]
  • Debates Over Slavery and Abolition: an Interpretative and Historiographical Essay
    Gale Primary Sources Start at the source. Debates Over Slavery and Abolition: An Interpretative and Historiographical Essay Orville Vernon Burton Clemson University Various source media, Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive EMPOWER™ RESEARCH Slavery is an ugly word, and the vast majority of modern enslaved in the seventeenth century, frequently being readers would immediately identify it as an ugly shipped to the West Indies. Europeans introduced a concept. Any effort to reintroduce the institution in the complex slave trade to their new Indian neighbors, United States would no doubt be vigorously resisted by often pitting tribe against tribe to obtain captives to sell all but a marginal few; most citizens, in fact, would into slavery. By the eighteenth century, however, wonder how such a proposal could even be seriously slavery as practiced by Europeans almost exclusively debated, or how support for it could be buttressed by victimized Africans by means of the triangular slave anything other than ignorance or the most unmitigated trade. form of selfishness. Slavery in colonial and early America existed in both the People, however, tend to have short memories (which is North and the South. For example, slavery was why they need historians). Slavery had been a common in New York. Even by the Civil War, there were commonly accepted fact of life since before written still a few remaining slaves in New Jersey, which had records began and has lingered in some parts of the ended slavery through gradual emancipation but like world until the present time. In the past, individuals other northern states had become a free state.
    [Show full text]