The Antebellum Era ( ): Slavery Divides the Nation Part 1

2. Antebellum America. b. Identify and evaluate the major events and issues that promoted sectional conflicts and strained national cohesiveness in the antebellum period. c. Identify significant religious, philosophical, and social reform movements of the nineteenth century and their impact on American society. d. Identify the major characteristics of the abolition movement in the antebellum period, its achievements, failures, and Southern opposition to it. e. Analyze the women’s rights and the suffrage movements and the impact of women on other reform movements in the antebellum period. f. Compare and contrast the economic, social, and cultural differences of the North and South during the antebellum period.

The Growing Movement of Abolitionism -The Abolitionist Movement grew in the Antebellum Era. The movement sought to abolish slavery in the USA. -During the Second Great Awakening (1790s- 1840s), a wide spread Christian movement, many began to become more devoted to the religion. -Within the movement, many participants felt slavery contradicted their faith. Yet, others in the faith argued slavery did not do this.

Christianity and Abolitionism -Unitarians and Transcendentalists began to spread their ideas in this era. -Leaders, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, taught that, according to transcendentalism, truth could be gained by observing nature and emotion. -African American Christians began to relate to Biblical stories, such as the Exodus, to their own struggles as slaves seeking freedom.

The Abolitionist Movement Grows -William Lloyd Garrison published The Liberator as a newspaper against slavery. -Frederick Douglas was an escaped slave who began to speak out and demand an end to slavery. -Nat Turner was a slave who led a violent rebellion in 1831 in Virginia, which led to a massive backlash by white slave owners against slaves and those sympathetic to abolitionism.

Masthead of The Liberator newspaper that was started to raise awareness for the abolitionist movement.

Frederick Douglas ( ) was a runaway slave who advocated for the abolitionist movement.

The slave rebellion of Nat Turner was used by many Southerners as propaganda against the Abolitionist movement.

Women and Abolitionism -Women worked for reform as well. -Many women not only strived for abolition, they also petitioned for the education of girls and women. The Seneca Fall Convention of 1848 was organized to advocate for these rights for women. -Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an important leader for women in this era and fought for women’s suffrage, which means the right to vote.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( ) Stanton’s dream of women gaining the right to vote occurred in 1920, 18 years after her passing.

Harriet Tubman & Harriet Beecher Stowe -During this time the Underground Railroad came about. It was a set of secret “stations” in which slaves could escape to the North. -People would help slaves get from point to point on various routes north to gain freedom. -Harriet Tubman, a former slave, served as a “conductor” taking slaves on the path of the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a system of check points in which many helped slaves to escape to freedom.

Harriet Beecher Stowe -Also in this time, helping the abolitionist cause, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in It was a fictitious work that exposed the real evils of slavery. -This book stirred up the emotion of the abolitionist cause and increased the desire of many to see slavery come to an end.

Harriet Tubman helped many slaves escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was a fictitious book that exposed the real evils of slavery.