Abolitionism in the United States

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1. What are the two early movements played a significant role in Abolitionism in the United States? And how?

Abolitionism in the British colonies in North America developed within the broader Atlantic antislavery movement. But, unlike the case in Europe, slavery was a domestic institution in the United States and was primarily under local (state) control. In addition, slaveholders often dominated the country's national government.

According to Encarta On-line Encyclopedia (2004), the following three movements were signitifcant:

1. Society of Friends

As elsewhere, black slaves in colonial America encouraged abolitionism by seeking to free themselves. Although maroon settlements like those in the Caribbean existed in colonial America, they were much smaller and less widespread. Slave rebellions, however, were frequent. A major uprising took place in New York City in 1712, when black and Native American slaves killed nine whites and wounded seven more. In 1739 a much larger rebellion took place near Charleston, South Carolina. About one hundred slaves marched along the Stono River, destroying plantations and killing a few whites. Slaveholders with the aid of Native Americans put down the rebellion, killing 44 of the rebels.

American Quakers, like their British counterparts, responded to these uprisings by advocating gradual abolition. By the 1740s ...