Throughout America history there were always people who spoke out against slavery. Quakers were the most vocal as slavery violated their adherence to equality. However, the Quakers were seen as religious fanatics and banned from holding public office. Others came to view slavery as wrong after coming in contact with a slave and having the encounter change their views. It was not until the 1830’s that the abolitionist movement really picked up momentum as it was taken up by Evangelical Protestants, who felt that slavery was a sin and that it was the moral responsibility of the populace to eradicate it. They felt that all slaves should be returned to Africa. Many people did not agree with the abolitionists as they felt that freeing the slaves would cause racial instability because the former slaves may have chosen to remain in America and they may have demanded rights equal to that of the white man. A number of people also worried about the harm that they felt that ending slavery would inflict on the economy.
Many southern plantation owners argued for slavery based on the following ideas (1) the society would be destabilized by the landless poor if slavery was ended (2) it is necessary for there to be a lower class to do the work for the upper class (3) slavery because it was represented an unchanging social hierarchy made it possible for the south to have a more stable society then the north were blacks could compete against whites for wages (4) slavery was a social good (5) the people who chose to defend slavery argued that ending slavery would have a disastrous effect on the south’s economy because they were dependent on slave labor and if they had no one to work the fields their crops would be unsellable and if they had to pay wages, then the plantation owner would no longer make the profit that they had. (6) they argued that the status quo must remain in place and that they affluent whites must remain on top of southern society because the freeing of slaves would mean widespread chaos and bloodshed because there would be widespread unemployment (7) others argued that blacks were genetically inferior to whites, they would use the decision in the Dred Scott case, which said that all blacks had no legal standing in court because they were property as proof of the inferiority and status of blacks (8) there was also the argument that there was slavery in the bible as Abraham had slaves and the ten commandments state that a person should not covet another’s manservant/ maidservant and Paul returned a slave to their owner (9) they also said that the slaves were better off than most people especially the poor because they would be taken care of when they were old or ill unlike others who were fired from their jobs and had to take care of themselves.
Even though there were a lot of different views regarding the slaves when it came to the abolitionists with some believing that blacks were inferior, there were a number of core beliefs that held united the abolitionists. These were (1) the belief that slaves were people and that everyone had the right to personal freedom and that no one should own another person and (2) the slaves should be allowed to return to Africa. (3) they believed that the ownership of slaves was inherently evil and would lead to people participating in other horrible practices (4) abolitionists felt that slaves were entitled to the same equality and right to have freedom and liberty that had been promised to all men in the Constitution.
Sojourner Truth is one of the most well-known abolitionists. Truth was born Isabella Baum in New York to James and Elizabeth Baumfree who were enslaved by Colonel Hardenbergh. When Hardenbergh dies Belle who was nine at the time was sold along with some sheep for 100$. Belle only spoke Dutch which caused her new owner to be extremely cruel to her beating her almost daily. He sold her in 1808 to Martinus Schryver for 108$. He only had her for a year and a half before selling her once again to John Dumont. Dumont was kind to her but his wife Elizabeth did not like her and made Belle’s life miserable
In 1815 Belle fell in love with Robert a slave living on a neighboring farm. Their relationship was forbidden by Robert’s owner because he would not own the children if Belle were to have any. One day when Robert snuck over to see Belle he was caught and beaten so bad that he would later die of his injuries. Belle would go on to marry Thomas and have five children. In the state of New York in 1799 there had been a law passed banning slavery, however, it was decided that it was going to be a gradual process. Thus the emancipation of former slaves was not completed until 1827. Dumont promised to free her before the emancipation took place but later changed his mind. Belle decided to run away in 1826 taking her daughter Sophia with her. This was because she could not take her other children because they had been born before the emancipation order and were not freed by it until they had worked as bound servants for about twenty years.
Belle and Sophia went to the home of Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen who paid Dumont to keep her for the rest of the year until the emancipation law took effect in New York. Belle then sued Dumont with the help of the Van Wagenens for selling her son Peter who was five to a slave owner in Alabama. Selling slaves across state lines was illegal in the north. Belle would eventually win her case five months later and be reunited with her son. Belle would become a Christian after a life changing experience while staying with the Van Wegerens and in 1829 she and Peter would move to New York City where she would work for Elijah Pierson as a housekeeper. She would meet and befriend Robert Matthews, who also called himself Prophet Matthias and they would be accused and acquitted of poisoning and stealing from Pierson after he died. In 1943 she changed her name to Sojourner Truth after becoming a Methodist and began traveling the country speaking about the need to abolish slavery. She would join the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Massachusetts which was started by abolitionists and supported women’s rights as well as religious tolerance. The members lived in a commune like setting on 470 acres. The group disbanded in 1846 because it was unable to adequately support itself. However, during her time there Truth had meant other abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison. Afterwards she would go to live with George Benson who was the brother in law of Garrison. Garrison would then publish her memoirs The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave which had been dictated to Olive Gilbert. The money from the book would allow her to buy a house in Northampton. She would then pay off the mortgage owed by her friend Samuel Hill.
In 1851 she would give her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in Akron, Ohio while traveling with the abolitionist George Thompson. She would go on to speak in front of hundreds of audiences in the next ten years She would move to Michigan in 1856 and join the Seventh Day Adventist Church because the abolitionist movement had pickup up in Ohio and Michigan. Once the Civil War began Truth would work to recruit black troops to join the Union Army and she would also work for the National Freedman’s Relief Association in Washington D.C to help improve the living conditions of former slaves. Truth’s moral beliefs seemed to be that everyone had the right to be treated equally. She felt that slaves had the right to be free in order to create their own destiny.
Works Cited
""I Will Be Heard!" Abolitionism in America." Welcome | Rare and Manuscript Collections. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
McGill, Sara A. Sojourner Truth. Toledo: Great Neck Publishing, 2005. Print.
McKivigan, John, and Mary O' Brien Gibson. "AAP Brief History of Movement." American Abolitionist Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
Truth, Sojourner, and Olive Gilbert. "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth." Digital.library Server at Penn Libraries. N.p., 1850. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
"The Battle for Abolition. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided . WGBH American Experience | PBS." American Experience. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
