Essay On The Abolitionist Movement

The abolitionist movement really gained strength in the 1830s and 1840s. Many of the people who joined the antislavery movement were from the North and were usually deeply religious in their beliefs (Larkin). Women and African-Americans became heavily involved in the movement to end slavery. Their involvement in the abolitionist movement and other social reform movements of the early 1800s gave women and African-Americans a political voice. The abolitionist movement was striking at the very foundation of America. To join this movement required much courage because there was often violence involved at protests from individuals that supported slavery. Even with the threat of violence, women became involved in the antislavery movement from the very beginning. The earliest women’s antislavery groups were founded in the early 1830s in places such as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. These early groups tended to be locally based and not part of a larger national organization. They would raise money for local and state antislavery activities and published antislavery material (Larkin). Many of the women who joined these groups came from prosperous families. They

Female abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was also involved in the temperance movement (Elizabeth), and Lucretia Mott, also a religious reformer (Lucretia), went on to become prominent figures in the women's rights movement. Women began to see that power lay in the ability to unify and voice an opinion. This desire to acquire women’s rights led Mott, Stanton and others to hold the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. At the convention, the women wrote and signed a Declaration of Rights and Sentiments. Many of the women at the convention first became active in the abolitionist movement. They believed that women, like slaves, should have equal rights (History.com