history essay - 70 marker - abolition

Use your own knowledge to assess how far the sources support the interpretation that the campaign for the abolition of slavery failed to win popular support in America before 1850?

On assessing the sources it is evident that there are sources which support and others that oppose the interpretation that the campaign for the abolition of slavery failed to win popular support. Source A is written by the fiercely established abolitionist Garrison who states, “Slavery cannot be abolished without a struggle: we must expect a collision with many a heartless being.” Through the statement “With many a heartless being” appearing the dominant phrase of this extract considering the question, source A relates directly to source B where Robinson states that his “abolition society of about 40 members” opposed “300 ruffians.” This implies great resentment and opposition to the abolitionist movement and thus supports the interpretation that the campaign for abolition failed to win popular support based on the ratio of those for and those against Robinson in source B and the fact that Garrison is enlightened that there are “many” people who do not condone his believes and are ready to fight against them.

This further reinforced by the fact that in source B Robinson was urged to leave “immediately and never return” in the northern state of Connecticut where the north has a reputation of supporting the abolitionist movement. This is in correlation with the interpretation of the letter in source E where it states, “Abolitionists talk twaddle” and the sources being 12 years apart while entertaining the similar view that abolitionists have no place and should squash their beliefs can be evidence to suggest that the abolitionist movement has lacked support before 1850 by both sources belittling the work of abolitionists. It can further be debated that there was greater force from the pro slave approach rather than the abolitionist movement with ruffian domination of abolitionist events or could suggest that people north, and thus not as heavily affected by slavery, do not believe it is their problem and thus are not concerned about the issue of slavery and the abolitionist campaign as a whole.

When assessing both source A and Source E, colonization appears to be a prominent factor in the infrastructure of both sources. While Garrison attempts to persuade the colonization society on why slavery “should no longer be tolerated” and the rights of blacks, the anonymous author of the letter in source E claims, “Colonization is to be the great cure of Negro slavery.” As Garrison is trying to persuade a colonization society in 1829 rather than address an established abolitionist society while 20 years later people in Pennsylvania, a northern state, continue to exercise the idea that colonization is a “great cure” creates grounds to suggest that colonization was more popular than the abolitionist movement before 1850; thus meaning abolitionists failed to win support while many believed in colonization with established societies as proof.  However, this interpretation can be countered by the fact that the first firmly established abolitionists society was set up in Pennsylvania which can limit source E and challenge its ideas where the majority of the people in that state support abolition and the author of the anonymous letter is a minority view when placing the source in context.

 

 

 

 

In contrary, source C and source D share an unorthodox relationship in portraying their belief that the abolitionist campaign did win popular support. Source C reveals Calhoun, a southern senator who believes slavery is a “positive good” enlightening his audience on the “fierce spirit of abolitionists” while former slave Grady claims in source D that, “abolitionists boldly stood up for us… they always took our part against abuse.” This would suggest that the abolitionists had popular support as they were able to conjure up “fierce spirit” to “disturb slavery.” This point is enhanced by the fact that Calhoun was an experienced senator speaking in congress and therefore he feels passionate and arguably intimidated by the strength of the abolitionist movement as he believes it has the capacity to corrupt the institution of slavery which he supports so dearly. However, Calhoun may be exaggerating the force of abolition for the sake of congress and to safeguard slavery from abolition to a more heightened extent, which could thus mean that abolition did not really receive popular support.

Furthermore, Grady depicts abolitionists as brave and inspiring people who “boldly stood up for us” through his literature and people prepared to fight strongly in the corner of slaves oppressed by the ominous persona of slavery. This is evidence to suggest that abolitionists were individuals to be inspired by and therefore give them your support and their actions were persuasive in encouraging people that they are doing what is right. In addition, he claims abolitionists acted in the “midst of scorn and anger” which implies that they held popular support as they were able to stand up what they believe in and not be bullied by opposing forces which can be seen as a strong example of popular support for abolitionists.

 

 

Bleeding Kansas

History Homework - Friday 10th January - The different parties - pgs 66 - 69 - 1856 elections

Republican Party

Platform

John C. Fremont

Ticket

The Platform declared that they had "both the right and the imperative duty ... to prohibit in the territories of those two relics of barbarism - Polygamy and Slavery"

The platform also supported the notion of a northern pacific railroad. The republican slogan was: "Free soil, Free labour, Free Men, Fremont"


Democrats

Platform

James Buchanan

Ticket

The Platform upheld the 1850 compromise and endorsed popular sovereignty. The Democrats claimed that they were the party of peace, stability and unity.

The platform attacked the Republicans for being rabid abolitionists who aimed to elevate blacks to equality with whites.

Know Nothing

Platform

John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859)

John Brown

Biographical Details

• (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) born in Connecticut and In 1805, the family moved to Hudson, Ohio
• At the age of 16, John Brown left his family and went to Plainfield, Massachusetts, where he enrolled in a preparatory program
• In 1831, one of his sons died. Brown fell ill, and his businesses began to suffer, leaving him in terrible debt. In the summer of 1832, shortly after the death of a new-born son
• In 1846, Brown and his business partner Simon Perkins moved to the ideologically progressive city of Springfield, Massachusetts. In Springfield, Brown found a community whose white leadership – from the community’s most prominent churches, to its most wealthy businessmen, to its most popular politicians, to its local jurists, and even to the publisher of one of the nation’s most influential newspapers – were deeply involved and emotionally invested in the anti-slavery movement.
• While in Springfield, as Brown learned more about abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, he also learned more about the region's mercantile elite, knowledge which while initially a 'curse', proved ultimately to be a 'blessing' to Brown's later activities in Kansas and at Harper's Ferry.
• He was brought up by very religious parents who were severely opposed to slavery and that is the origins of his drive to kill slavery.

Views on Slavery

• Believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the united states
• represented the wishes of the republican arty to end slavery
• He believed that peaceful resistance of slavery had proved to be ineffective and therefore more drastic measures had to be taken to end the system. He stated, ""These men are all talk. What we need is action—action!"
• Fiery and stringent abolitionist who had means to end slavery with violence if other tactics were not to work
• This could prove costly as John Brown may not have essential motives such as the preservation of the union and whether his violent actions would have consequences such as this.

Tactics

• Pottawatomie massacre in May 1856 in response to the raid of the "Free soil" city of Lawrence where Brown and his supporters killed 5 pro-slavery southerners.
• this further fuelled the fire which was to be bleeding Kansas
• 1859, Brown led raid on the federal armoury at Harper's Ferry. Although the initial attack was successful, within 36 hours, his men had fled or been captured and Brown was sentenced to death by hanging.
• In 1850, he opposed the new fugitive slave act passed through the 1850 compromise through his organisation the league of Gileadities who he instructed to act "quickly and quietly" to protect slaves that escaped to Springfield
• He also had some involvement with the underground Railroad
• However, he did not receive too much support from other known abolitionists such as Garrison and Douglass as they did not believe his violent approach to the topic was correct and therefore did not wish to support him in his quests such as the battle of Black Jack and the battle of Osawatomie.  
• Historians agree John Brown played a major role in the start of the Civil War.

Achievements

• As John Brown in 1855 found from family in the territory that free slavers were in no position to defend themselves against the strong military force of the south, he headed west and was able to find financial and artillery support from his home town of Ohio which would aid him I battle against southern ruffians.
• Historians agree John Brown played a major role in the start of the Civil War.

Fredrick Douglass

Fredrick Douglass

Biographical Details

• Born 1818 and died in 1895
• After death of mother and father from 1825 - 26, Fredrick learnt to read and write as a Household slave in Baltimore
• From 1834 - 35 Douglass became a plantation worker in the field and then escaped to New York where he began work as a labourer and then further moved to Massachusetts
• Joined the abolitionist movement in 1839
• In 1841 he first heard Garrison speak at a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. At one of these meetings, Douglass was unexpectedly invited to speak.
• In 1843, Douglass participated in the American Anti-Slavery Society's Hundred Conventions project, a six-month tour of meeting halls throughout the Eastern and Midwestern United States. During this tour, he was frequently accosted, and at a lecture in Pendleton, Indiana, was chased and beaten by an angry mob before being rescued by a local Quaker family

Views on Slavery

• Joined the abolitionist movement in 1839
• After escaping from slavery he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing.
• Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant, famously quoted as saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."
• Frederick can be seen as a moderate emancipator of Slavery with reference to the break up of himself and William Lloyd Garrison in 1855 where Garrison failed to see how the constitution could be anti - slavery and making drastic public statements such as burning a copy of the constitution. Frederick began to see this as relatively extreme.

Tactics

• 1841 - Gave his first speech to Massachusetts Anti - slavery society which was an immediate success and he was hired to conduct a regional speaking tour
• Douglass was a polemicist and he published his best ever , Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845
• 1846 - Embarked on a successful lecturing tour of Britain - Experienced equality in Ireland which he mentioned in his future works.
• Douglass developed his own abolitionist paper The North Star in 1847 -
• Despite close friendship with John Brown, he did not join his raid on Harper's Ferry - Douglass does not believe in violence to emancipate slavery, similar to Garrison
• 1862-5 Douglass urges both freed and enslaved blacks to join the Union Army to help to emancipate slavery.
• Douglass used creative ways to influence his northern audiences. he would state phrases such as, "I appear this evening as a thief and robber. I stole this head, these limbs, this body from my master and run off with them.

 Achievements

• He published his best ever narrative in 1845
• Douglass became the most famous and influential African American of his time
• He was a great campaigner for abolition, a talented polemicist and inspirational speaker
• He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves did not have the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.^[
• Without his approval, he became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States
• At the time, some sceptics questioned whether a black man could have produced such an eloquent piece of literature. The book received generally positive reviews and became an immediate bestseller. Within three years of its publication, it had been reprinted nine times with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States; it was also translated into French and Dutch and published in Europe.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Tubman (1820 – March 10, 1913)

Harriet Tubman

Biographical Details

• Born (1820 – March 10, 1913)
• Lived as a Child in Dorchester County, Maryland
• Born into slavery, beaten and harassed by masters and suffered a severe head injury involving a metal weight which caused many physical as well as mental problems including visionary experiences and seizures
• As a devout Christian Tubman ascribed her visions as revelations from God
• As a child, Harriet was often hired out to work for other slave masters oftentimes doing housework. As she grew older, she was sent to work in the fields with other slaves. These people worked in fields that produced many kinds of crops including corn, potatoes, tobacco, and cotton.
• After the war, Harriet Tubman returned to her home in Auburn, New York. Since her husband John Tubman died in 1867, she married a former slave and Union soldier, Nelson Davis in 1869.

Views on Slavery

• Tubman was an abolitionist who was herself a slave and sought for the institution to be abolished
• Tubman's vision was to give freedom to every black slave.
• Seeing how she and other slaves were so commonly mistreated, angered her.
• She wanted to see freed slaves based on her past experiences as a slave.
• She shared the dream that President Abraham Lincoln had in bringing freedom to the slaves in the South.

Tactics

• The Quakers were opposed to slavery and had connections with the Underground Railroad. Different safe houses were a part of this secret system that aided slaves in their attempt to reach the North. Free blacks and sympathetic whites would help runaway slaves find food, shelter, transportation, and guide them on their trek.
• Much of Harriet's journey was during the night when it was easier to hide from slave hunters trying to recapture any escaped slaves. The North Star was her guide in the night that gave her hope and pointed her in the direction of freedom.
• Once past Pennsylvania, Harriet joined up with William Still, an abolitionist who she worked closely with to manage the underground railroad.

Achievements

• A woman with tremendous courage, strong as a man, and cunning as a fox was Harriet Tubman. She was unable to read or write and yet Harriet made 19 journeys back to the Southern States to help free over 300 slaves
• Harriet crossed the state line of Pennsylvania. She was a free woman. In overwhelming joy she said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now I was free. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven
• Harriet soon joined the abolitionists and became a conductor for the railroad. Between 1850 and 1860, she saved money to make 19 trips to the South to free about 300 slaves.
•  After years of eluding slave hunters, white slave owners posted a reward of $40,000 for her capture. With the help of her allies and well planned routes, Tubman was never captured and the reward was never collected.
• Harriet worked as a nurse, scout, and a spy for the Union and in 1863, she led a group of black soldiers under Colonel James Montgomery on a raid. Nearly 800 slaves were freed as a result.

William Lloyd Garrison (December 12, 1805 – May 24, 1879)

William Lloyd Garrison

Early Life and Education

• Life - (December 12, 1805 – May 24, 1879)
• 1806 - moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts
• 1808 - Garrison's father becomes unemployed and runs out on his family
• 1818 - At 13 Garrison works as apprentice compositor for Newburyport Herald
• After his apprenticeship, Garrison and a young editor started to create their own newspaper, the short lived Free Press, used abolitionists poets to feature in the articles
• This newspaper gave Garrison the crucial tools needed to succeed in writing the liberator that would receive national recognition and provide him with skills he will use for public speaking
• 1828 - garrison appointed editor of the National Philanthropist

Career

•  At 25 Garrison Joined anti - slavery movement
• 1826 - credited the works of Reverend John Rankin for his book Letters on Slavery, attracting Garrison to the cause
• For a brief time, he was involved in the American Colonization Society, an organisation that promoted the resettlement of free blacks to west Africa. However, southerners believed that relocation preserved the institution of slavery with a lack of free blacks in society and therefore Garrison apologised publicly for his involvement in the movement and declared it as a mistake.
•  Garrison became writer and co-editor of Genius of Universal Emancipation and based on experience, allowed Benjamin Lundy to proceed the nation making public speeches, Garrison changed the layout of the newspaper and initially sharing Lundy's views as a gradualist, Garrison changed his opinion towards the immediate and complete emancipation of slaves.
• Lundy and Garrison continued to work together, Garrison introduced the Black List which was a section of the newspaper devoted to the odious features of slavery such as kidnappings whippings etc.
•  Example was Francis Todd who was accused of illegal shipping's by Garrison and filed a suit against him and Lundy hoping for pro slavery courts to support him.
•  Garrison could not pay find placed against him and went to jail in Baltimore for 6 months when money was donated for his release, he moved from Baltimore and his work with Lundy was over
• In 1855, his eight-year alliance with Frederick Douglass disintegrated when Douglass converted to political abolitionists’ view that the document could be interpreted as being anti-slavery.

Liberator

• 1831 - Garrison returns to New England, founded a weekly anti slavery newspaper, the Liberator - known as his most iconic piece of work
• In his first publication, Garrison showed is strong and immediate Abolitionist view, he used terminology such as, " Urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present ... I will not retreat - AND I WILL BE HEARD." This shows Garrison's motives as a stringent abolitionist and immediatist
•  In 1834 it had two thousand subscribers, three-fourths of whom were blacks
• Benefactors paid to have the newspaper distributed to influential statesmen and public officials.
• Although he did not opt for physical emancipation of Slaves, his critics took the immediate emancipation of slaves very literal
• Some blamed him for advocating the immediate freeing of all black slaves
• South Blamed the Liberator for slave rebellions in north Carolina and Garrison came under fire
• He was indicted for incendiary material and $5000 reward for his capture
• 1856 - He published articles about the famous Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• 1861 - The Liberator continued to develop mass northern support and further gained more readers in England, Scotland, and Canada. It was received in state legislatures, the White House, Congress and governor's mansions.
• The last issue of the newspaper was published on 29th December 1865 where Garrison referred to his long career as a writer and editor and the Justice of the emancipation of Slavery. He stated, "The object for which the Liberator was commenced—the extermination of chattel slavery—having been gloriously consummated."
• This would imply that the Liberator was a success.