Causes Of Opposition To Slavery From 1776-1852

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The growing causes of opposition to slavery and growing support for abolition from 1776-1852 were far and many. Many factors, such as the influence of the rich on the legislation, a religious reawakening among the Black and White peoples of America, the formation of African-American rights association, the adoption of the issue by the media, and the arrival of women to the issue, among others, contributed to the common people’s rejection of slavery. The North were the first to pick up the idea of abolition: in 1777, the Northern state of Vermont was the first to adopt emancipation into their state constitution, followed by Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire in 1783; state law allowed for gradual emancipation in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, …show more content…

During the Second Great Awakening, many missionaries worked alongside the spiritual African-Americans and because of this soon came around to the belief that the African-Americans were people. The church was then challenged to share this belief and convince the common people that African-Americans were people who shared equal rights. One effort to prove the humanity of the African-Americans was a movement to point out the accomplishments of well-educated African-Americans; which proved that, given the opportunity to educate themselves, they were just as smart and well accomplished as whites. One excellent example of this is speaker, novelist, and abolitionist Frederick Douglas, who, while being a fine example of the concept, also advocated it wholeheartedly (Doc …show more content…

Their influence landed their petition in Congress, bringing even more attention and support to the movement. Another factor of growing opposition to slavery was the rapt attention of the media. Some newspapers, such as William Lloyd Garrison’s Liberator, solely covered and advocated for the abolition movement. Other media outlets, like pamphlets, circulated and brought this reform movement into the spotlight-- one such pamphlet, William Lloyd Garrison’s “Declaration of Sentiments”, expressed the feelings of another influential abolition group, the American Anti-Slavery society; a simple pamphlet letting the world know that they planned to assemble and spread the good word of abolition in every town (Doc