Anti-Slavery Efforts in the South Some African Americans in the South were freemen, or African Americans who had been emancipated. These men and women faced legal and social discrimination, yet still played a large role in anti-slavery activities. Many freemen helped enslaved people escape, and many bravely spoke out for freedom for all African Americans. In 1831 the deadliest slave uprising in American history took place. Nat Turner and his accomplices killed dozens of whites before the uprising was put down by a local militia. Other enslaved African Americans chose to attempt escape, trying to reach the free states of the North, Canada, or Mexico. Over the years, a constantly changing network of escape routes developed called the Underground Railroad. Sympathetic whites and freemen provided help to escaping slaves. Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery herself, helped many on their journey to freedom.

The Abolition Movement in the North The number of enslaved people trying to escape increased in the 1830s, possibly encouraged by an anti-slavery movement in the Northern states. The Second Great Awakening’s focus on morality caused many Northerners to see slavery as wrong and ungodly. Many joined reform societies to stop slavery 1833: William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. It was the first group to call for an immediate end to U.S. slavery. In five years, had over 1,500 chapters in the North. Many abolitionists were women. Sarah and Angela Grimké, daughters of a Southern slaveholder, were abolitionists. They moved to the North to support abolition and women’s rights. Frederick Douglass, who escaped slavery, was a leading abolitionist. He published an 1845 biography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Opposition to Abolition Though the majority of white southerners did not own enslaved people, the minority who did found abolition outrageous, as if it were an attack on their livelihood and, to some, their religion. Slaveholders argued that slavery was essential to cotton production, which was a powerful argument even in the North, because cotton accounted for 55% of American exports. In fact, most Northerners supported slavery as well, since freedom for slaves meant more competition for jobs. Still, the pressure to abolish slavery in the U.S. was undeniable.