Abolitionist movement in the United States: who were the key leaders, and what were their contributions? Essay sample

The 19th century saw a clear strive for abolitionism. Slaves were very productive to their owners and all the America, however, they did not quite fit in the notion “the land of the free and brave”. Different people advocated giving freedom to slaves. Some of them took a moderate position calling for a gradual abolition. The others were radical; many of them pushed abolitionism for religious reasons. Abolitionism became clear in churches in the North of the country creating certain hostility between the North and the South. Regional arguments, including the point of slavery, have driven the country to the Civil War. Preachers used to be powerful figures in the abolitionist movement. Lyman Beecher, Nathaniel Taylor, and Charles G. Finney insisted on ending sinful practices having caused the religious movement called the Second Great Awakening in the 1820s. Free African-Americans certainly played a huge role in the anti-slavery movement. In 1833, William Lloyd Garrison, Arthur and Lewis Tappan and more activists created the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia. They tried to change moral values and promoted equal rights for women as well. The abolitionist movement seemed to split in 1865 when the Thirteenth Amendment made the American Anti-Slavery Society redundant. Nevertheless, a large group of abolitionists insisted on complete political equality for black males until the Fifteenth Amendment was passed. As the aftermath of the abolitionist movement, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People appeared in 1909. It addressed violence against African Americans that continued after slavery had been abolished.