No Rest for the Weary: The Modern Anti-Slavery Movement in the United States

Social Studies Review, Spring 2005 by Betts, Brenda, Russ, Pamela

The roots of the anti-slavery movement can be traced to the Friends of Society religious group, who were called Quakers. The Quakers had been prosecuted for their religious beliefs so they fled to the New World. Upon their arrival, the Quakers were appalled by the peculiar institution referred to as slavery. They believed that slavery was sinful. Quakers were active abolitionist and fought against the injustices that the Africans were experiencing and they quickly mobilized to end the institution of slavery. Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker, formed the first anti-slavery society. The Quakers became the first organization in United States history to prohibit and condemn slaveholding. In 1688, in attempts to rid southern states of a slave labor workforce, the Quakers wrote the first anti-slavery piece of legislature in Germantown, Pennsylvania:

"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...To bring men hither {to America}, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against...Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse towards us, than if men should rob or steal us away, and sell us for slaves to strange countries; separating husbands from their wives and children-." (The Germantown Protest, 1688)

The first abolitionists were freed AfricanAmericans. Among them were John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, founders the first Black newspaper in the United States, in 1827, called the Freedom's Journal. William Lloyd Garrison was founder of the widely read Liberator, a journal that supported the anti-slavery movement. The most famous journal of this time period was the North Star founded by ex-slave Frederick Douglass. Lloyd Garrison founded the Liberator in 1831 and Douglass founded the North Star in 1847. The newspapers were widely circulated throughout the northern states and both men received high praise and recognition for publishing newspapers that supported the anti-slavery movement. Frederick Douglass and Lloyd Garrison traveled throughout the north and some parts of the south, speaking to individuals, small groups, crowds and organizations in order to obtain support for the anti-slavery movement. Douglass and Garrison devoted their lives to the abolishment of slavery.

Lucretia Mott, a devout Quaker, was a staunch advocate for both the women's suffrage movement and the anti-slavery movement. She was influential in the success of the Underground Railroad and greatly influenced Quakers and northerners in her writings and speeches advocating the abolition of slavery throughout the South. Lucretia Mott was highly regarded and Frederick Douglass was one of her many supporters. He received his first educational experiences and formal education from the Quakers.

Harriet Tubman was by far one the most outspoken leaders of the anti-slavery movement. She was a runaway slave who helped others slaves to escape from bondage to freedom. She was fondly referred to as the Moses of her people and the Conductor of the Underground Railroad. She never lost an escaping slave on her many trips north. The Underground Railroad was an efficient and highly complex system for transporting thousands of African-American slaves to freedom. From the southern states, slaves fled from plantations in the dark early hours of the morning by following the North Star. They hid in the houses, cellars and barns of sympathizers along the way. They developed a complex routing system that led to the north and to Canada. The abolitionists, women suffragettes, friendly Quakers, and free African-Americans all made important contributions to the success of the anti-slavery movement.