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2
The Antislavery
Section
Movement
SECTION OBJECTIVES
1. Learn how the antislavery movement
arose and grew.
2. Find out about contributions made
by Frederick Douglass to the antislavery movement.
3. See what caused divisions to arise
among abolitionists.
4. Discover how the Underground
Railroad operated.
5. Understand how some Americans
demonstrated resistance to
abolitionism.
2
The Antislavery Movement
READING FOCUS
KEY TERMS
TARGET READING SKILL
• How did the antislavery movement arise
and grow?
abolitionist movement
emancipation
Underground Railroad
gag rule
Identify Supporting Details Copy the chart
below. As you read, fill in the blanks with
information on the antislavery movement.
• What contributions did Frederick
Douglass make to the antislavery
movement?
• What caused divisions to arise among
abolitionists?
Antislavery Movement
Key leaders
• William Garrison
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• How did the Underground Railroad
operate?
Tactics
• How did some Americans demonstrate
resistance to abolitionism?
Divisions
MAIN IDEA
Resistance
A small but committed antislavery movement arose in the early- to
mid-1800s. Leaders, both blacks and whites, used a variety of
tactics to combat slavery, facing great dangers in their struggle.
Setting the Scene
From his modest secondhand clothing store near
Boston harbor, a 44-year-old free black man named David Walker fought slavery in a unique way. He bought clothes from sailors returning to port. In the
pockets of the pants and jackets, he placed copies of his 1829 antislavery pamphlet, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. Then he resold the garments to
other sailors departing for southern ports.
Walker’s message began to circulate: White people should cooperate so that all Americans could “live in peace and happiness
together.” But if they would not listen, he warned, then “We must
and shall be free . . . in spite of [white people]. . . . [F]or America is
as much our country, as it is yours.”
BELLRINGER
Warm-Up Activity Ask students for
what act the biblical Moses is most
remembered. How do they think the
name “Black Moses” might apply to
Harriet Tubman? Ask them to explain
what they think the nickname means.
An Antislavery Movement Arises
Activating Prior Knowledge Do
students know the meaning of the
word “abolitionist”? Ask them if they
can identify the root word in the term.
TARGET READING SKILL
Ask students to complete the graphic
organizer on this page as they read the
section. See the Section Reading
Support Transparencies for a completed
version of this graphic organizer.
Characteristics
David Walker slipped this pamphlet
into the pockets of clothing he sold
in Boston to sailors, thus spreading his antislavery message far
and wide.
318
In response to this and other antislavery activities, enraged southern states banned antislavery publications and made it illegal to
teach slaves to read. Yet fighters in the abolitionist movement,
the movement to end slavery, continued their work in the face of
southern opposition and even personal danger. In 1830, the year
after he published his essay, Walker died in the streets of Boston,
possibly poisoned to death.
Walker became one of the heroes of the abolitionist movement.
Started by a group of free African Americans and whites, the movement gained
momentum in the 1830s. The debate over ending slavery created steadily
increasing tensions between the North and the South.
The Roots of Abolitionism
The movement against slavery did not spring up
overnight. Even during colonial times, a few Americans in both the North and
Chapter 9 • Religion and Reform
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Teaching Resources
Guided Reading and Review booklet, p. 38
Learning with Documents booklet (Visual
Learning Activity) Countrymen in Chains,
p. 48
Other Print Resources
Nystrom Atlas of Our Country A Divided Nation,
pp. 26–27.
318 • Chapter 9 Section 2
Technology
Section Reading Support Transparencies
Guided Reading Audiotapes (English/Spanish),
Ch. 9
Student Edition on Audio CD, Ch. 9
Prentice Hall Presentation Pro CD-ROM, Ch. 9
Companion Web site, www.phschool.com
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the South had spoken out against slavery. In addition, some slaves had petitioned colonial legislatures for their freedom—mostly without success.
The earliest known antislavery protest came from the Mennonites, a
Christian sect of German immigrants, who declared in 1688:
“
LESSON PLAN
Focus Explain that in the 1830s the
slavery debate created tensions within
both the nation and the abolition movement itself. Ask students to describe
the nature of the divisions within the
movement.
There is a saying, that we should do to all men like as we will be done
ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent, or colour
they are. And those who steal or rob men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike?
”
—Resolutions of Germantown Mennonites, 1688
During the late 1700s, several antislavery societies formed in the North,
while abolitionist newspapers appeared in both the North and the South. From
1777 to 1807, every state north of Maryland passed laws that gradually abolished
slavery. The legal importing of slaves to the United States also ended in 1808.
At first, most antislavery activists favored a
moderate approach. One of the most important
of these early abolitionists was a Quaker named
Benjamin Lundy. In 1821, Lundy founded an
antislavery newspaper in Ohio called The Genius
of Universal Emancipation. The newspaper called
for a gradual program for the emancipation, or
freeing, of enslaved persons. He favored stopping
the spread of slavery to new states and ending the
slave trade within the United States as first steps
toward full emancipation.
Free blacks had actively opposed slavery long
before white reformers became involved in the
abolitionist movement. By the end of the 1820s,
nearly 50 African American antislavery groups
had formed throughout the nation.
Instruct Discuss some of the arguments for and against abolition. What
were people’s motives for supporting
or rejecting abolition?
Ask students to identify people or
groups who favored immediate abolition, gradual abolition, or slavery. Have
them analyze which approach they
think would have been best for the
nation and why.
Assess/Reteach Have students
list, in order of riskiness, the tactics
employed by abolitionists in the midnineteenth century.
ACTIVITY
Connecting with
History and Conflict
The Colonization of Liberia
In the early
1800s, some abolitionists favored colonization, a
program to send free blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa. Convinced that
African Americans would never receive equal treatment in American society,
these antislavery advocates founded the American Colonization Society in 1817.
To pursue their plan of colonization, the society established the West African
country of Liberia (its name taken from liberty) in 1822. A white American,
Jehudi Ashmun, founded the new refuge. In six years, Ashmun created a trading state with a government and a set of laws. Liberia’s first black governor was
Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a free black man born in Virginia in 1809.
White supporters of colonization did not all believe in racial equality. Many
were eager to rid the United States of both slavery and African Americans.
Some southern planters backed colonization as a way to eliminate the threat of
free blacks who might encourage slaves to revolt.
The colonization plan offended most African Americans. They considered
themselves and their children to be as American as any white people. They
wanted to improve their lives in their homeland, not on a faraway continent
they had never seen.
Such opposition doomed colonization to failure. By 1831, only about
1,400 free blacks and former slaves had migrated to Liberia. By that time, both
In this illustration, two white children hand an antislavery petition
to a gentleman standing beside a
pleading slave in chains.
Chapter 9 • Section 2
Have each student write an article for
an abolitionist newspaper. Tell students
to support their arguments against slavery with facts about the way in which
slaves were treated. Suggest that some
students write for a northern newspaper while others write for a southern
paper. When students finish writing,
invite volunteers to read their articles
aloud. (Verbal/Linguistic)
319
CUSTOMIZE FOR ...
Less Proficient Readers
Have students list the main reasons people supported or opposed the abolition of slavery. Have
them identify whether each reason was primarily
moral or economic.
Chapter 9 Section 2 •
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ACTIVITY
Connecting with
Economics
Engage students in a discussion about
why some abolitionists called for an
immediate end to slavery while others
called for a more gradual approach.
(Verbal/ Linguistic)
From the Archives of
®
Out of Africa!
On December 1, 1822, in what is
now Monrovia, Liberia, three dozen
former American slaves desperately
fought off an armed assault by 1,000
native-born Africans determined
to reclaim their land. In 1821, the
American Colonization Society had
forced a local king at gunpoint to
deed them a 130-mile strip of coastland in return for a few cartloads
of hardware and household goods
(including place settings for twelve,
complete with wineglasses). Ever
since, his subjects had been waiting for a chance to expel the interlopers. When fever had killed or
weakened a sufficient number, they
struck. Some of the warriors carried
spears. Others bore large-caliber
muskets, which they loaded with
foot-long copper and iron slugs for
close-range use. But the settlers
had artillery, which made up for their
numerical disadvantage. Despite
repeated attacks, the colony continued for three more decades until the
Civil War made it irrelevant. By that
time a mere 15,000 blacks had been
resettled. Source: Frederick D.
Schwarz, “The Time Machine,”
American Heritage ® magazine,
December, 1997.
Number of persons
(in millions)
Free and Enslaved Black Population, 1820 –1860
Interpreting Graphs The enslaved
population.
Viewing History Sample questions:
How has your life changed since you
became free? Are most slaves treated
as poorly as you were? What do you
think is the best strategy for abolishing
slavery? Do you think the United States
can abolish slavery without erupting
into war? What would happen to
slaves once they became free?
320 • Chapter 9 Section 2
Radical Abolitionism
One of the most famous of the radical abolitionists was a white Bostonian named William Lloyd
Garrison. In 1831, Garrison began publishing The Liberator,
an antislavery newspaper supported largely by free African
Americans. Garrison denounced moderation in the fight
against slavery:
Free
Enslaved
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
Year
SOURCE: Historical Statistics of the United States,
Colonial Times to 1970
INTERPRETING GRAPHS
The population of both free and
enslaved African Americans rose
during the first half of the 1800s.
Analyzing Visual Information Which
population rose more rapidly?
“
I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. . . . I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will
not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL
BE HEARD.
”
—William Lloyd Garrison, in the first issue of The Liberator, 1831
In 1833, with the support of both white and African American abolitionists,
Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. As the decade progressed,
more middle-class white Northerners began to support the immediate end of slavery. By 1835, the American Anti-Slavery Society had some 1,000 local chapters
with roughly 150,000 members. With agents traveling throughout the North, the
society distributed more than one million antislavery pamphlets a year.
Frederick Douglass
One of the most popular speakers and a key leader of the American Anti-Slavery
Society was a former slave, Frederick Douglass. (See American Biography on the
following page.) A prominent publisher and brilliant writer, Douglass’s accomplishments are all the more impressive considering how he obtained his education.
The son of a white father whom he did not know and a slave mother from
whom he was separated as an infant, Douglass was raised by his grandmother.
At age 8 he was sent to Baltimore as a house slave. Although Maryland law prohibited the education of slaves, his new owner’s wife disregarded the law and
V I E W I N G H I S T O R Y Abolitionist Frederick Douglass is shown
here speaking at an antislavery
meeting. Formulating Questions
Write down four or five questions
you might have wanted to ask
Douglass if you had attended
this meeting.
320
CAPTION ANSWERS
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
black and white abolitionists were adopting a more aggressive
tone in their fight against slavery.
Chapter 9 • Religion and Reform
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Technology
Sounds of an Era Audio CD The Narrative of the
Life of an American Slave, Frederick
Douglass (time: about one minute)
Literature Activity Life
as a Freedman, found on TeacherExpress™,
presents a passage from Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass to give insight into the
views of the prominent African American
abolitionist.
Exploring Primary Sources in U.S. History
CD-ROM Meaning of Fourth of July for the
Negro, Frederick Douglass
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tutored the intelligent young boy. After the owner forbade his wife to
teach Douglass, he taught himself, getting help from white children.
Cruel experiences under slavery toughened Douglass’s will and
would later make him the nation’s most influential African American
abolitionist. At 17, he was considered unruly, so he was sent to a “slave
breaker,” a man skilled in punishing slaves to make them passive and
cooperative. Subjected to whippings and backbreaking labor for endless
hours and days, Douglass did indeed become broken in body and spirit.
But after one particularly brutal beating, Douglass reached what he
called a “turning point” in his life. He fought back, attacking the slavebreaker with such ferocity that the man never again laid a
whip to him. This, Douglass said later, was the story of
“how a man became a slave and a slave became a man.”
In 1838, the 21-year-old Douglass, working in a shipyard, disguised himself as a sailor and escaped to New
Bedford, Massachusetts. Asked to describe his experiences as
a slave to an antislavery convention in 1841, Douglass
spoke, unprepared, with passion and eloquence. The event
launched Douglass’s career with the American Anti-Slavery
Society. He wrote and spoke publicly, enduring verbal and
physical threats from opponents of abolition.
Douglass also faced skeptics who refused to believe that a slave could
be such an articulate spokesperson. This skepticism prompted Douglass
to publish his autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. The
book named his former master, so to avoid capture, Douglass went to
Europe to continue raising support for the abolitionist movement.
While abroad, Douglass also raised the money to purchase his freedom. He then started an abolitionist newspaper, the North Star, which
he published from 1847 to 1860. Although Douglass opposed the use
of violence, he also believed that slavery should be fought with deeds as
well as words:
“
ACTIVITY
Frederick Douglass • 1817–1895
The brilliant abolitionist writer and
speaker Frederick Douglass was born
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
in Maryland, a slave state, in 1817.
First a house slave and
then a field hand, Douglass
endured abuse that steeled
his determination to
escape his servitude. In
1838, at age 21, Douglass
fled to New Bedford,
Massachusetts, where he
changed his name from
Bailey to Douglass to
avoid capture. He soon
began lifelong work as an
agent of the American
Anti-Slavery Society. His autobiography,
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass,
sold thousands of copies.
During the Civil War, Douglass
served as an advisor to President
Abraham Lincoln. After the war, he
fought for the rights of freed slaves, the
poor, and women until he died in 1895.
They who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate [criticize] agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they
want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without
the awful roar of its many waters.
”
Connecting with
History and Conflict
Divide the class into groups. Have each
group conduct research to locate the
text of one of Frederick Douglass’s powerful speeches, and provide a dramatic
reading of it for the class. (Bodily/
Kinesthetic)
BACKGROUND
Geography in History
While some slaves escaped to the
North, others were sent southward
from Virginia and Maryland. Two centuries of tobacco farming had worn out
Virginia’s soil, and plantations there
sold many of their slaves to estates in
the deep South, where laborers were
needed. A common punishment for
slaves who tried to revolt or escape
was to be “sold South,” where the climate was hotter and free territory too
far away to encourage runaways.
BACKGROUND
Interdisciplinary
—Frederick Douglass
The colonization of Liberia was supported by the most prominent slaveholders of the day, among them John
C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Andrew
Jackson. Ironically, they supported the
freedom Liberia would offer as a way
to ensure the existence of slavery in
the United States: they feared a large
population of free black people would
threaten the institution of slavery.
Divisions Among Abolitionists
While abolitionists shared a common goal, they came from diverse backgrounds and favored a variety of tactics. It is not surprising, therefore, that divisions appeared within the antislavery movement.
Divisions over women’s participation One of the first splits occurred over women’s
participation in the American Anti-Slavery Society. At the time, Americans in
general did not approve of women’s involvement in political gatherings. When
Garrison insisted that female abolitionists be allowed to speak at antislavery
meetings, some members resigned in protest.
Two of the most prominent women speakers were Sarah and Angelina
Grimké, white sisters from South Carolina who moved north, became Quakers,
and devoted their lives to abolitionism. In 1836, Angelina’s pamphlet, An
Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, and Sarah’s Epistle to the Clergy of
Chapter 9 • Section 2
321
TEST PREPARATION
Have students read the quotation from Frederick
Douglass on this page. Then have them answer
the question below.
What is the closest paraphrase to Douglass’s words?
A Achieving freedom will be difficult.
B No one should criticize abolitionists.
C It is unrealistic to imagine achieving
freedom without struggle.
D Freedom must be achieved without struggle.
Chapter 9 Section 2 •
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the Southern States prompted southern officials to ban and burn
the publications.
In the 1840s, a powerful crusader joined the abolitionist
cause: Sojourner Truth. Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in
Ulster County, New York, in 1797. Freed from slavery in 1827,
she found work as a domestic servant in New York City and
soon became involved in various religious and reform movements. In 1843, she took the name Sojourner Truth because
she believed her life’s mission was to sojourn, or “travel up and
down the land,” preaching the truth about God at revival meetings. That same year she visited a utopian community in
Northampton, Massachusetts, where she learned of the abolition movement and took up the cause.
ACTIVITY
Connecting with
Culture
Ask students to write an editorial for
the abolitionist newspaper of either
William Lloyd Garrison or Frederick
Douglass. Students should first consider the likely audience for the newspaper and tailor their arguments
accordingly. The editorials should
attempt to stir readers to specific
actions. (Verbal/Linguistic)
BACKGROUND
Recent Scholarship
Recent research, including Philip D.
Morgan’s Black Culture in the
Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and
Low Country and Ira Berlin’s Many
Thousands Gone: The First Two
Centuries of Slavery in North America,
is shedding new light on the variations
among regions in the practice of slavery. For instance, the lives of slaves in
the Chesapeake Bay region were
painful and demeaning, but not nearly
so difficult as the lives of slaves in
South Carolina’s Low Country. There,
slaves were likely to have worse food,
clothing, shelter, and far shorter lives.
Yet in one way the slave populations of
both regions were much alike. In both
places they struggled to live decent,
full lives under the dehumanizing order
of slavery.
William Lloyd Garrison, an uncompromising abolitionist, grew increasingly stern in his statements. In
1844 he proposed the peaceful
secession of the North from the
slaveholding states of the South.
Divisions over race Racial tensions further divided the movement. For African Americans, the movement to end slavery had
a personal dimension and an urgency that many white people
could never fully understand. In addition, some black reformers
felt that white abolitionists regarded them as inferior.
This treatment insulted Martin Delany, an abolitionist who
was also one of the first African American students to graduate
from Harvard Medical School. In the 1840s, Delany founded a
highly respected newspaper, the Mystery, and worked closely with Frederick
Douglass. A supporter of colonization and a frequent critic of white abolitionists, Delany noted:
“
We find ourselves occupying the very same position in relation to our
Anti-Slavery friends, as we do in relation to the pro-slavery part of the
community—a mere secondary, underling position.
”
—Dr. Martin Delany, African American abolitionist
Tensions such as these helped lead Frederick Douglass to break with Garrison
in 1847 and found, with Delany, his antislavery newspaper, the North Star.
Divisions over tactics A third source of tension among abolitionists was political
action. Garrison believed that the Constitution supported slavery. Thus, he reasoned, attempting to win emancipation by passing new laws would be pointless,
since any such laws would be unconstitutional.
Abolitionists who disagreed, such as Arthur and Lewis Tappan, broke with
Garrison to follow a course of political action. Together with former slaveowner
and abolitionist James Birney, the Tappans formed the Liberty Party in 1840.
The Liberty Party received only a fraction of the presidential vote in 1840 and
in 1844. Yet it drew off enough support from the Whig Party in such key states
as Ohio and New York to give the 1844 election to James K. Polk, a Democrat.
The Underground Railroad
Some abolitionists insisted on using only legal methods, such as protest and
political action. But with tremendous human suffering going on, other people
could not wait for long-term legal strategies to work. They attacked slavery in
every way they could, legal and illegal.
A Dangerous Operation Risking arrest, and sometimes risking their lives,
abolitionists created the Underground Railroad, a network of escape routes
322
Chapter 9 • Religion and Reform
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Other Print Resources
American History Block Scheduling
Support “Come Along to Freedom”:
The Underground Railroad, found in the
Expansion, Reconstruction, and Immigration
folder, includes interdisciplinary lesson suggestions and activities for Geography and
History, Primary Sources, Biography, and
Literature.
322 • Chapter 9 Section 2
Technology
Color Transparencies Historical Maps, A17
Biography William Lloyd
Garrison, found on TeacherExpress™, profiles
the man known as the conscience of the abolitionist movement.
Exploring Primary Sources in U.S. History
CD-ROM First Issue of the Liberator, William
Lloyd Garrison
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that provided protection and transportation for slaves fleeing north to freedom.
The term railroad referred to the paths that Africans Americans traveled, either
on foot or in wagons, across the North-South border and finally into Canada,
where slave-hunters could not go.
Underground meant that the operation was carried out in secret, usually on
dark nights in deep woods. Men and women known as conductors acted as
guides. They opened their homes to the fugitives and gave them money, supplies, and medical attention. Historians’ estimates on the number of slaves rescued vary widely, from about 40,000 to 100,000.
ACTIVITY
Connecting with
Geography
A Courageous Leader: Harriet Tubman African Americans, some with
friends and family still enslaved, made up the majority of the conductors. By far
the most famous was a courageous former slave named Harriet Tubman.
Tubman herself escaped from a plantation in Maryland in 1849 and fled
north on the Underground Railroad. Remarkably, she returned the
next year to rescue family members and lead them to safety. Thereafter,
she made frequent trips to the South, rescuing more than 300 slaves
and gaining the nickname “the Black Moses.” (The name refers to the
Bible story of the prophet Moses leading Jewish slaves out of captivity
A Path to Freedom African Ameriin Egypt.)
cans escaping slavery knew that freeThe River Route
On a map, the routes of the Underground Railroad
look like a tangled clump of lines. (See the map on page 309.) One of
those pathways came from the West, where the Mississippi River valley
offered a natural escape route. Some slaves managed to get a ticket for
riverboat passage northward. If they were lucky, they could reach the
Underground Railroad routes that started in western Illinois.
The Mississippi River route was dangerous, however. Slave hunters,
who often received generous payments for their work, stalked the riverboat towns and boarded the ships looking for slaves on the run.
Through the Eastern Swamps
The East Coast, by contrast, had a
physical feature that offered protection from human pursuers, but posed
serious natural dangers. This feature was the string of low-lying swamps
stretching along the Atlantic Coast from southern Georgia to southern
Virginia. Fugitives who traveled north through the swamps could link up
with one of the eastern Underground Railroad routes to Canada,
shown on the map. The travelers faced hazards, however, such as poisonous snakes and disease-bearing mosquitoes.
The Mountain Route The physical feature that most influenced
the choice of a route was the Appalachian Mountains. The mountain chain, extending from northern Georgia into Pennsylvania,
has narrow, steep-sided valleys separated by forested ridges.
The Appalachians served as an escape route for two reasons.
First, the forests and limestone caves sheltered fugitives as they
avoided capture on their way north. Second, the Appalachians
acted as a barrier for western runaways, leading them northward
into a region of intense Underground Railroad activity.
dom lay to the north, in the free
northern states or in Canada. With no
maps to guide them, they followed the
North Star. More detailed instructions
came in the form of a song passed
secretly among some slaves, called
“Follow the Drinking Gourd”:
“When the sun comes back
and the first quail calls,
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
For the old man is waiting
for to carry you to freedom,
If you follow the Drinking Gourd. . . .”
The “Drinking Gourd” is the Big
Dipper, which points to the North Star.
The first line of the song tells
slaves to leave in the winter,
when the sun is higher in the
sky and quail have migrated
to the South. Departing in the
winter would give them time
to reach the Ohio River by the
following winter and cross it
on foot over the ice. The
“old man” is a man named
Peg Leg Joe, who taught
slaves the escape route
described in the song.
Challenge students to locate the direction north by using the “Drinking
Gourd” (The Big Dipper) to find the
“North Star” (Polaris). Explain that the
line formed by the two stars that form
the outer side of the Big Dipper’s cup
points directly toward Polaris (in the
direction “up” from the cup). Polaris is
about five times the distance from the
top of the cup as the distance between
the two stars that make up the outer
side of the cup. Have students report to
the class how easy or difficult it was
for them to find the direction north by
“following the drinking gourd.” (Bodily/
Kinesthetic)
BACKGROUND
Biography
Harriet Tubman (1821–1913) was one of
11 children born into slavery. She ran
away to the North alone, later saying,
“There was no one to welcome me to
the land of freedom. I was a stranger in
a strange land.” By the beginning of
the Civil War in 1861, Tubman had
escorted over 300 slaves to freedom,
including her brothers, sisters, and
parents. Then, as a scout for the Union
Army, she helped free more than
750 slaves. In 1896, Tubman founded
the National Association of Colored
Women.
A Refuge for Runaways
The center of Underground Railroad activity included Ohio and parts of two states that border it,
Indiana and Pennsylvania. This region shared a long boundary
with two slave states, Virginia and Kentucky.
Chapter 9 • Section 2
323
CUSTOMIZE FOR ...
Gifted and Talented
Have students research one of the routes on the
Underground Railroad and report their research
to the class. The report should include visuals
such as photographs, maps, or posters.
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323
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ACTIVITY
Connecting with
Citizenship
Tell students to imagine that they are
fugitive slaves. Have them write a poem
or song that expresses their experience. Suggest that students think about
how they feel toward those who are
helping them escape. Have students
present their finished work to the rest
of the class. (Musical/Rhythmic)
V I E W I N G H I S T O R Y In this
scene depicting the Underground
Railroad, weary fugitive slaves disembark from boats and are whisked
into waiting carriages for the next
leg of their journey to freedom.
Analyzing Visual Information What
impressions or feelings do you
think this picture evokes?
READING CHECK
A network of escape routes provided protection and transportation
for slaves fleeing north. Men and
women known as conductors
acted as guides, opening their
homes to the fugitives and giving
them money, supplies, and medical
attention while helping to shepherd
them to freedom.
READING CHECK
How did the Underground
Railroad operate?
Once the fugitives crossed into Ohio, they found themselves in a region
with some measure of safety. Southern Ohio was home to Quakers and others
who volunteered their houses as depots, or stations. There, too, lived free blacks
as well as whites who had left the South because they opposed slavery. Some
white people in the northern and eastern parts of Ohio were antislavery advocates who had resettled from New England. “It is evident,” wrote one slave
owner, “that there exist some eighteen or nineteen thoroughly organized thoroughfares through the State of Ohio for the transportation of runaway and
stolen slaves.” Nevertheless, most white Ohioans held deep hostility toward
blacks.
Southern Illinois, on the other hand, was an even more dangerous region
for fugitives. Settled largely by Southerners, this region remained proslavery.
Abolitionists in that area often provided tickets for fugitives on a real railroad, the
Illinois Central, for transit to Chicago. From there they continued on toward
Canada, often on foot, following the North Star as it marked their route to freedom. (See Focus on Geography, page 323.)
Meanwhile, enraged slave owners offered a $40,000 reward for the capture
of Harriet Tubman. Yet she continued. Armed with devout faith—and a handy
revolver—she required strict discipline among her escapees, even threatening
those who wavered. Tubman later boasted: “I never run my train off the track,
and I never lost a passenger.”
Resistance to Abolitionism
The activities of the Underground Railroad generated a great deal of publicity and
sympathy. Yet the abolition movement as a whole did not receive widespread support. In fact, it provoked intense opposition in both the North and the South.
Opposition in the North
In the decades before the Civil War, most white
Americans viewed abolitionism as a radical idea, even in the North. Northern
merchants, for example, worried that the antislavery movement would further
sour relations between the North and South, harming trade between the two
regions. White workers and labor leaders feared competition from escaped
slaves willing to work for lower wages. Most Northerners, including some who
opposed slavery, did not want African Americans living in their communities.
They viewed blacks as socially inferior to whites.
324
CAPTION ANSWERS
Viewing History Sample answers:
fear, tension, relief, danger, darkness,
haste.
324 • Chapter 9 Section 2
Chapter 9 • Religion and Reform
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Teaching Resources
Units 3/4 booklet
• Section 2 Quiz, p. 27
Guide to the Essentials
• Section 2 Summary, p. 48
PWSurvey05 TE_CH09
1/12/04
1:05 PM
Page 325
Opposition to the abolitionists eventually boiled over into violence. At public
events on abolition, people hurled stones
and rotten eggs at the speakers or tried to
drown them out with horns and drums. In
1835, an angry Boston mob assaulted
William Lloyd Garrison and paraded him
around the city with a rope around his
neck. A new hall built by abolitionists in
Philadelphia was burned down, as were
homes of black residents.
The most brutal act occurred in Alton,
Illinois, where Elijah P. Lovejoy edited the
St. Louis Observer, a weekly Presbyterian
newspaper. In his editorials, Lovejoy
denounced slavery and called for gradual emancipation. Opponents repeatedly
destroyed his printing presses, but each time Lovejoy resumed publication. On
the night of November 7, 1837, rioters again attacked the building. Lovejoy,
trying to defend it, was shot and killed.
Opposition in the South
Most Southerners were outraged by the criticisms
that the antislavery movement leveled at slavery. Attacks by northern abolitionists such as Garrison, together with Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion, made
many Southerners even more determined to defend slavery. During the 1830s,
it became increasingly dangerous and rare for Southerners to speak out in favor
of freeing the slaves.
Public officials in the South also joined in the battle against abolitionism.
Southern postmasters, for example, refused to deliver abolitionist literature. In
1836, moreover, Southerners in Congress succeeded in passing what Northerners called the gag rule. It prohibited antislavery petitions from being read
or acted upon in the House for the next eight years. Abolitionists pointed to
the gag rule as proof that slavery threatened the rights of all Americans, white
as well as black.
2
CRITICAL THINKING
AND WRITING
1. What tactics did the abolitionist
movement use to achieve the
emancipation of slaves?
5. Identifying Central Issues Explain
why the passage of the gag rule
was an extraordinary and historically
significant act by Congress.
3. Why did divisions emerge within the
abolitionist movement?
4. What groups resisted the efforts of
abolitionists, and what types of
resistance did they carry out?
V I E W I N G H I S T O R Y A white
mob destroys the printing press of
abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy in Alton,
Illinois, on November 7, 1837.
Recognizing Bias Why did many
whites in the North oppose the
abolitionist movement?
Assessment
READING
COMPREHENSION
2. Name four abolitionist leaders and
describe their contributions to the
movement.
Section
6. Writing to Inform Describe how
geography (a) affected the course of
the Underground Railroad and
(b) presented challenges to travelers along the routes.
PHSchool.com
An activity on the Underground
Railroad
PHSchool.com
mrd-3092
For:
Visit:
Web Code:
Chapter 9 • Section 2
CUSTOMIZE FOR ...
ESL
Have students reread the section “Opposition in
the South” on this page. Then have students
explain the meaning of the word “gag” and why
“gag rule” was an appropriate term for the rule
passed in the Congress.
2
Assessment
Reading Comprehension
1. Protest, political action, publishing,
forming groups and societies, developing a colonization program, the
Underground Railroad.
2. William Lloyd Garrison: published a
newspaper, denounced moderation,
founded American Anti-Slavery
Society; Frederick Douglass: great
speaker and writer, started newspaper, opposed violence; Grimké sisters:
involved women by speaking and
writing pamphlets; Harriet Tubman:
Herself an escaped slave, Tubman led
many other slaves to freedom.
3. Leaders disagreed over whether or
not to employ illegal tactics, such as
helping slaves to escape, and some
male members disagreed over
whether or not to allow women to
play prominent roles in the movement.
4. Northern merchants, white workers
and labor leaders who feared competition, most southerners, and public
officials in the South; held violent
demonstrations, murdered Lovejoy,
and passed the gag rule.
Critical Thinking and Writing
5. It was a broad act that prevented
any action in Congress on antislavery for a period of eight years.
6. (a) The Underground Railroad led
to safety in Canada. The Mississippi
River provided a natural escape route
North; the swamps of the Atlantic
Coast allowed slaves to hide; the
Appalachian Mountains provided
shelter for fugitives. (b) The
Mississippi River was dangerous
because slave hunters stalked the
riverboat towns; the swamps held dangers such as poisonous snakes; mountains created a challenging barrier.
325
PHSchool.com
Typing the Web Code when prompted
will bring students directly to detailed
instructions for this activity.
CAPTION ANSWERS
Viewing History Some northern white
merchants feared a disruption of NorthSouth trade. Some white workers feared
competition from freed slaves. Other
white northerners felt that African
Americans were inferior to them.
Chapter 9 Section 2 •
325