The Abolitionism - Research Paper Example

?Abolition Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Early stages 3 Voices of abolitionists 6 Immediate Abolition 7 Morality and Religion 8 Conclusion 8 List of References 8 Introduction Abolitionism was an ideology operating on the doctrine of ending slavery. Various activities supported this principle aimed at achieving that goal. The concept is historical because all countries in the world have abolished slavery, as many international organizations among them the United Nations require member countries to ratify abolitionism. Abolitionism was a major reform movement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The doctrine to end slavery was to free millions of black people detained and used as slaves across the world. Other terms refer to abolitionism among them abolition movement and antislavery movement. The movement started by Africans resisting slave trade and slavery, eighteenth century notions regarding universally acceptable human rights, changing ideas in interpreting Christian morality, and changes in the economy status of the world (Oakes, 2013). This led to abolitionists dividing into two extremes with one group advocating for immediate end to slavery and slave trade while others fought for gradual end to the same. In the mid nineteenth century, the terminology abolitionism referred to the struggle to end slavery immediately. Early stages In the entire America and Western Europe, abolitionism was a rights movement whose proponents wanted to end set slave trade and in the process set slaves free. Bartholomew de las Casas, a Dominican priest influenced Spain to become the first European nation to legislate laws that legally abolished slavery by 1542. However, three years down the line, pressure from the bourgeoisie who were the beneficiaries forced the same country to weaken the laws reversing the gains made by early abolitionists. Evangelical Christians and Quakers fought hard against slave trade and slavery in the seventeenth century terming them un-Christian acts. The movement gained momentum in eighteenth century when rational thinkers among the elite in the society accused the beneficiaries calling the entire process a violation of human rights. It is important to note that although early abolitionists put in a lot of effort, the gains were not immediate as centers of slavery still existed. Centers were in Countries in South America and United States as well West Indies. The movement started in England after the Somerset’s case of 1772. Eight years later the state of Pennsylvania enacted laws that aimed at the gradual end to slavery within its area of jurisdiction (Wilson, 1990). Although there was no official law abolishing slavery in Massachusetts, the promulgation of the Massachusetts constitution ended slavery. The European colonization of countries in America increased the dependence on race-based slavery where Africans and their descendants were forced to work the farms. The process reached its apex in the sixteen century. This degree reached Great Britain’s North American colonies in the mid seventeen century. These countries later become the United States. Antislavery movements started because of the rights denied to slaves and other inhumane acts. In the United States for instance, slaves lost customary rights, passed their un-free status over to their children and respective descendants, and served for life. Individual efforts of the enslaved to free from slavery included self-purchase, escape, rebellion, and seeking redress from courts. Some of the early major revolts were in America as early as the first decade of the eighteenth century in South Carolina and New York City. Major efforts towards resistance to abolish slavery and slave trade from organizations in the United States came from Quakers, the Society of Friends who believed and spread the idea that slavery was physically dangerous and sinful to both the victim and the beneficiary. Leaders of the society including Antony Benezet from Pennsylvania and John Woolman from New Jersey campaigned aggressively to have their members from other states to stop engaging in the inhumane and sinful acts and help to end slavery gradually in the process. The American Revolution running from 1775 to 1783 boosted the efforts of abolitionists recruiting non-Quakers and non-African Americans. Those recruited included black service in Patriot armies, natural doctrines anchored in the civic education and black petitions for emancipation. American states aimed at ending slavery either gradual or immediately with Vermont and Massachusetts taking the lead to end slavery and slave trade immediately in 1777 and 1783 respectively. In the early years of the nineteenth century all the states north of Delaware had ended slavery using either of the two ways (Schell, 1984). Constitutionally, the Congress introduced and passed a clause in the Northwest Ordinance making slave trade in the Northwest Territory illegitimate in 1787. The abolitionist spread the idea into the Upper South forcing the states to adjust their rules on slave-masters who agreed to free their slaves. Affected states included Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. Efforts by abolitionists took mixed forms with the revolution hiking in seventeen eighties and taking a downward notch shortly later with various developments stopping. Developments in agriculture among them the invention of cotton gin in 1793 caused the expansion of cotton farming and in the process reinvigorated slavery and slave trade. In 1791, the brutal Haitian slave revolt led to the creation of an independent black people’s republic in 1804 but governed by whites form the south for the fear that they could not control free Africans. This notion led to the efforts to strengthen rather than abolish slave trade and slavery. A botched revolt under the leadership of Gabriel, a slave in Richmond, Virginia at the turn of the nineteen century further bolstered the defensive tactics. Efforts by white settlers and bourgeoisies used cruel and brutal defensive tactics to slow abolitionists’ attempts to fight for their rights. In Europe, different countries took various mixed steps to end slavery and slave trade. France for instance, abolished slave trade in 1789 as one of the political gains of revolution. However, emperor Napoleon restored slavery in the nation’s colonies a few years later. This was the major cause of the slavery revolt in Haiti, a French colony in eighteen hundred leading to its independence country. Britain, France’s neighbor and another colonial master across the world, banned slavery in all her colonies seven years after the revolution in Haiti. In 1833, Great Britain formally abolished slavery and slave trade throughout her empire by enacting the Slavery Abolition Act. By the mid nineteenth century, France also abolished slavery in all her colonies. In eighteen hundred and eight, America followed suit but the 13th Amendment to its constitution legally stopped slavery(Lewis, 1947). The laws of the Indies started all the gains, efforts, and progress in abolitionism in the West in fifteen hundred and forty-two. In this law, Emperor Charles V abolished slavery for all races, set all the Native American Slaves free, and gave them full citizenship with full rights. Voices of abolitionists The German and Dutch Quakers from Mennonite offshoots of Germantown then in Pennsylvania but currently in Philadelphia set the pace for calls of abolition in America. The members of the society of friends wrote on slavery directing the message to the officials of their church across the region including Philadelphia, Germantown, Quaker women, Quaker Ancestor Roster, Quakers Religious society of friends, and Pennsylvania. On the onset, the church leadership never took any action but the Quakers Petition against Slavery in 1688 in Georgetown changed the flow of the entire movement. The arguments were forceful and formed the first process that culminated into the banning of the vice in 1776 followed by the Pennsylvania state in 1780. Thomas Paine was another abolitionist voice who in 1775 published the article advocating for abolition of slavery and slave trade and in the process setting the slaves free. The first organization to challenge slavery was formed in Philadelphia in 1775. Membership comprised of mainly Quakers who held views that slavery was sinful. Defensive efforts of white British settlers and the revolution ended the activities of the society. Immediate Abolition A more radical group of abolitionists emerged in the eighteen thirties and twenties propelled by many factors. This group of people demanded for the immediate emancipation of African Americans in the United States. They wanted an immediate end to slavery and slave trade with equal rights for African Americans (Hague, 2007). Their initial efforts were diplomatic managing to convince white minorities in the Northern region. They gradually developed into black unrests partly aided by white abolitionists who wanted to use all means to avoid war based on race in the South. Former slaves among them David Walker, Nat Turner, and Denmark Vasey used different methods to fight for their rights including slave conspiracy, publishing articles, and preaching on the pulpit. A revolt led by Nat Turner in 1831 in Southampton, Virginia left several dozens of white settlers dead. National and International conventions such as the Second Great Awakening called for the increase in the number of whites appreciating slavery as being inhumane and barbaric acts. This was a convergence of religious organizations. Abolitionists made various gains from this conference including starting the vibrant career of William Lloyd Garrison. The white from New England began publishing the Liberator, a weekly newspaper spreading awareness on the need and urgency to end slavery. Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the clarion call for immediate emancipation of slaves and was joined by other abolitionists among them James Forten and Douglass. Around the mid nineteenth century, the movement was more ideological with free black and people of different color forming a strong group of about three thousand people fighting for emancipation. Coordinated efforts included the raising of funds to purchase Douglass freedom for two years in England from Thomas Auld, the slave-master in England. Morality and Religion The religious conference formed the foundation for many other social reforms. Some of these forums held that it was a sin to tolerate slavery and hold slaves (Hart, 1906). The Abraham Lincoln followers opposed the existence and expansion of slavery. The religious perspective held equality as a norm. This meant that souls of blacks were as valuable those of whites. It was therefore not one creator of God to enslave the other. They held onto this irrespective of whether the constitution said otherwise. Conclusion The 1807 Act abolished slave trade and slavery in all British colonies. The act made it illegal to transport slaves in all the British ships. However, the law was made met by several challenges among them slave-master trying to evade the ban. The political leadership did not relent on its efforts to abolish slavery. Initially, the aim of abolitionist was to end slavery immediately (Bagehot, 1997). This became a bit challenging leading to the formation of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery by Thomas Fowell Buxton and Clarkson to engage in the gradual end to the end of slavery. Women groups emerged a few years proceeding the mid nineteenth century. They engaged in petition drives, letter-writing campaigns, and sugar boycotts. This was followed by speaking conferences organized by various abolitionist groups. Agrarian politics also helped in the fight against slavery. The agrarian reformers struggled for several decades to achieve their goals. List of References Bagehot, Walter. 1997. The English Constitution. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. Hague, William. 2007. William Wilberforce: the life of the great anti-slave trade campaigner. Orlando: Harcourt. Hart, Albert Bushnell. 1906. Slavery and abolition, 1831-1841. New York: Harper & Bros. Lewis, C. S. 1947. The abolition of man ; or, Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools. New York: Macmillan. Oakes, James. 2013. Freedom national: the destruction of slavery in the United States, 1861-1865. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Schell, Jonathan. 1984. The abolition. New York: Knopf. Wilson, Ellen Gibson. 1990. Thomas Clarkson: a biography. New York: St. Martin's Press. Read More