They often drew on their own experiences. But American women found even more reasons to side with abolitionists.

The evidence was certainly on their side – these were excellent reasons to oppose slavery. Their articles thus emphasized the sexual exploitation of enslaved women and slave owners’ habit of breaking up families. As the male editors of these newspapers saw it, no group was more open to the moral argument against slavery than women. But how could they appeal to the hearts and minds of Americans? Dozens of Black- and white-owned newspapers sprang up around the country, dedicated to spreading the word and arguing the cause. The key message in this blink is: The abolitionist movement appealed to women seeking their own emancipation.Ībolitionism thrived in print. This abolitionism was part of a wider push for social reform designed to close the gap between the rhetoric of the Revolution and the reality of life in the new republic. Spurred on by the emancipation of slaves in a few northern states, they now pushed for the total abolition of slavery everywhere. For now, all they could do was ensure that the law was properly applied and that the flagrant abuse of slaves was ended.īy the 1830s, though, campaigners started making more radical demands. Dismantling slavery, the institution’s opponents thought, would take decades, if not centuries. Opposition to slavery was not new, but few had called for the immediate liberation of enslaved African Americans. But as the war drew to a close, Americans began appealing to revolutionary ideas about the equality of all in their fight against another enemy: slavery. Initially, that meant freedom from British rule. The American Revolution was a struggle for liberty.

Vanguard martha s jones