The Abolitionist Movement and its Influence on the Civil War - Research Paper Example

?The Abolitionist Movement and its Influence on the Civil War The Abolitionist Movement was carried out from the 18th to the 19th centuries. Being spurred by the American and French revolutions, the people started thinking of human rights and liberty. Originally in the 15th century, the idea was believed in by a small group of people who disagreed with the thought of a human being considered as a possession. They were against the whole idea of there being a market for slaves, of the process of bidding, buying and selling of actual persons as if they were animals or just a piece of furniture. Worse than that was the way that they were treated. The Abolitionists believed in slavery being sin and that every American should rise against it until something was done about it. However, “the clash between those who wished to end slavery and those who wished to expand and extend the institution escalated” (Hoffman). The latter did not believe in what the Abolitionists wanted – that slavery be eradicated from America by gradually shipping out the slaves back to Africa. Instead, they thought that getting rid of the slaves would result in chaos. There were “practical economic and status advantages associated with slavery and racial oppression” (Clark 239). Without the slaves, there would be no racial order and the people who worked in the cotton fields would have to be paid for their hard work. That would lead to a rise in the cotton prices or a decrease in the profits earned as they would have to cover up the cost incurred of paying the wages. Thus, the whole process of finally managing to abolish slavery took a really long period of time. Of course, there were many people who worked hard to make their beliefs come true. One such man was Abraham Lincoln who later ended up becoming the President of the United States of America. He is most popular for being a far sighted and open minded politician who saw and understood enough to realize that what was going on in his country was wrong, that the whole tradition of buying people was against every morals that there are. He had the courage to go against the majority and work on trying to do what he thought was right. In fact, it was his passion for justice which led to him stepping in the political field and eventually running as president. However, he was not a conventional abolitionist. In fact, in the beginning, he was not an abolitionist all; he just greatly disliked the whole concept behind slavery and spoke quite strongly about it. Initially, Abraham Lincoln had run several campaigns against expanding slavery into more states and territories. He had realized that the Constitution did not allow the American government to get rid of slavery completely so he could not do much about the Africans who already were part of the order and helped run the land smoothly without disrupting the whole process. But he could work on stopping it from happening in the future in places where there was no concept of slavery and the people were not dependent on the Africans to do their work for them. He has been recorded as been saying “I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist” (Burlingame). Even after he became the President, he tried to reconcile those living in the South who were owners of many slaves with the Northerners who were the opposing party. This effort, of course, did not prove to be fruitful. It was later on during his political career – sometime after he was elected as the President – that he declared himself to be a supporter of the Abolitionist Movement and started working on using his power to overcome the injustice shown towards the Africans. The Civil War had started in 1861 due to the “long-standing sectional differences and questions not fully resolved when the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789”; the whole country was in turmoil (The Civil War). It was a year later that Lincoln decided to put a stop to all that was happening. He “issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves within the Confederacy and changed the war from a battle to preserve the Union into a battle for freedom” (American President: Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)). The 13th Amendment was penned and signed in 1864. It was a year later when it was officially adopted by the country. In the same year, the war finally came to an end. A few days after the law was passed, President Lincoln was shot dead by one who supported slavery. Lincoln had done the right thing by the Africans in trying to give him as equal a status amongst the Americans as possible and for that he was punished. It is said by critics that Lincoln was never an abolitionist. He did have his heart and his morals in the right place. He knew that what was being done to the Africans was wrong. But his actions were also controlled by his position in life. He could not rebel against the state just because he did not believe in their ideas especially after he became the President. To continue his presidency, he had to have the support of the Southerners too and that would be lost to him if he announced that he was morally against slavery. Later on, he ended up passing on the Act because he was pushed into doing so. His people had rebelled and if he needed to pass a law that he himself fully believed in, then so be it. The slaves would become free and there would be a semblance of order in his country again. Other than Abraham Lincoln, there were also men like William Lloyd Garrison who were anti-slavery. He had a paper called The Liberator in which he wrote about his views regarding the slavery of the Africans. He wrote that he was “an Abolitionist. Hence, (he could not) but regard oppression in every form—and most of all, that which turns a man into a thing—with indignation and abhorrence” (Garrison). He soon formed a society called the New England Antislavery Society the purpose of which was to bring all the people who believed in the freedom of slaves together. Later on, he also founded the American Antislavery Society. This organization was dedicated to succeeding in their aim of abolition. All that Garrison did was use his words in the way of his beliefs – he either wrote or spoke about how those who preferred to have slaves were wrong. He was a man who talked much; he had his beliefs but only behind a desk. He did not get up and do anything to help put a stop to the slavery quite unlike Lincoln who was very vocal about his morals and set out to putting his beliefs into action until he succeeded. Surely, he would have done more if he had not been shot. But it was due to the lack of actions that he carried out in support of abolitionism that many of his supporters left him. There were many people talking about how what was going on was not fair but very few who were brave enough to step up to the challenge and help in bringing about the change. These people then made a society of their own called the American Antislavery Society. There was even further friction amongst the followers of the abolitionist movement in the future years. Even though several of the abolitionists were pro-Union, Garrison was quite adamantly against them. He thought that the Constitution allowed slavery and, thus, should be dissolved. He said that the Free states and also the slave states should be separated where each side had their own laws to follow. During the whole time, Garrison continued to write in The Liberator. In fact, he even went as far as to support all the political decisions that Abraham Lincoln made even though it was not until much later that the President actually managed to do something about the situation. The man’s wishes and dreams finally came true in the same year that the Civil War ended in when the 13th Amendment was passed ensuring freedom for the slaves in the entire continent. There were also other supporters such as Wendell Phillips. He came from a rich and educated family who did not approve of his sympathy for the plight of the slaves but he carried on. When Reverend Elijah Lovejoy – another supporter – was murdered due to him printing papers that showed sympathy towards the slaves, Phillips gave a speech in Lovejoy’s defense. Being a man of means, he was quite open and generous with handing out money to the abolitionists who required assistance. It was not an easy task to bring about such a great change in the country where they had been in the habit of owning slaves for years. Everyone did their part no matter how small or big. Some used their mind, some their social status or riches, and then there were some who gave their life for the betterment of the lives of the other people. Either way, it was because of the passing of that one Act which resulted in the banning of slavery that led to progression and bringing equality between everyone regardless of their skin color. Bibliography American President: Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865). n.d. 27 November 2013 . Burlingame, Michael. Abraham Lincoln: A Life. 1st. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Clark, Kenneth B. "The Civil Rights Movement: Momentum and Organization." Daedalus 95.1 (1966): 239 - 267. Garrison, William Lloyd. "No compromise with slavery." Selections from the writings and speeches of William Lloyd Garrison. 1968. Hoffman, Judy. ""If I fall, my grave shall be made in Alton" Elijah Lovejoy, Martyr for Abolition." Gateway 2005. The Civil War. n.d. Weider History Group. 27 November 2013 . Read More