Pros And Cons Of The Abolitionist Movement

Question # 6 The Abolitionist Movement

In the 1800’s the abolitionist movement was put in place by political oppositions to achieve immediate emancipation of all African American slaves in the ending of racial segregation and discrimination. The Abolitionist movement in the United States of America from the 1830s until 1870 was an effort to end slavery in a nation that valued personal freedom of slaves and believed all men are created equal. There were limitations of the early abolitionist movement in noting that certain political oppositions and white abolitionists did not think that African Americans or people of color should have equal rights because of their ethnic backgrounds, gender and knowledge.

It came a time when African Americans and Europeans found great inspiration in two key strains of American thought: Republicanism, The Intellectual Legacy of the American Revolution, and Protestant Christianity and especially the emotionally charged Evangelicalism. Because of these two key strains abolitionism was never considered a self-contained or singular movement from the 1830’s until 1870. In the 1830’s until 1870 abolitionism encompassed a bewildering array of national, state, and local organizations, contradictory tactics, and clashing personalities between the Europeans and African Americans. At this time some abolitionists were commonly portrayed as benevolent European people who were deeply concerned with the well-being of enslaved African Americans which was epitomized by many activists within that time period. Many abolitionists were convinced at this time of the abolitionist movement of the racial inferiority of the African American people and how they should be portrayed as humans within this society. African American and European abolitionists often had different agendas by the 1840’s and certainly in the 1850’s. But one of the greatest frustrations that many African American abolitionists faced was the racism they sometimes experienced from their fellow European abolitionists. In many cases

Very often, African American abolitionists had very different perceptions of what their roles ought to be at a speaking event. So because of these perceptions there were many struggles among European and African American abolitionists about just what the proper role of an African American abolitionist was in the abolitionist movement. Because of the strength and the way the African Americans delivered their words at a speaking event this was a problem for European abolitionists because in many ways what the European had discovered with African American speakers was that African American speakers carried a greatness of the authentic black voice. By the 1850’s it was noted that African American abolitionists didn't have time to struggle with the Europeans over doctrinaire questions of tactics and strategy because at this time the African American abolitionist were about their business of building enormous strength within their own communities, and trying to organize real strategies against the total depletion of slavery in the South all