The years before the Civil War were characterized by a rapid increase of the anti-slaveholding movement. The fight against slaveholding system has acquired a truly national character and covered almost all population of the northern states. Abolitionists played a crucial role in the movement for the abolition of slavery. They were in favor of the immediate abolition of slavery and for granting the political rights to Blacks. Farmers and artisans, the urban petty bourgeoisie, workers, and intellectuals all layers of the northern states participated in the abolitionist movement. There were two different groups of abolitionism members, moderate supporters of reforms and other defenders of revolutionary methods. However, all of them were united by hatred to slavery and aspiration to promote its fastest destruction (McNeese, 12).
The slaves from the South were trying to escape to the free North, this fact contributed to the aggravation of the problem of social injustice. In the North, free Blacks could have farms, workshops, shops that were visited only by their skin color fellows, but they were free. Both southerners and northerners equally shared the opinion on the inferiority of the Blacks. Nevertheless, in the south, the American racism reached the peak. Revolts of slaves and their anti-slaveholding movement not only sowed fear among planters, but also awoke consciousness of Americans, and promoted the development of the democratic movement. Eventually, the aggravation of conflict between the system of wage labor and slavery system, the complexity of the economic relations between the northern and southern states led to a further escalation of the crisis. People rose up to fight for equality.
The destruction of slavery expanded the domestic market for the US goods, accelerated development of industry and agriculture, and give huge dividends to the representatives of the North. The North victory over the South became the main triumph of democracy and apogee of the fight for equality in the USA. The planters of the South lost the ability to use the labor of black slaves and to extend slavery to new lands.
References
McNeese, Tim (2003). “America's Civil War”. Lorenz Educational Press. Retrieved from:
https://books.google.com/books?id=RFizKx5FjI8C&printsec=frontcover&hl=uk#v=onepage&q&f=false
