ASA 2025 Topic 4: Analyzing the Transnational Abolitionist Movement

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the Transnational Abolitionist Movement, a pivotal anti-slavery movement in the United States. It explores the movement's goals, which centered on the immediate liberation of slaves and the eradication of racial discrimination, contrasting it with other anti-slavery viewpoints advocating for gradual change. The essay delves into the movement's origins, influenced by the Second Great Awakening and religious beliefs, and its impact on the political landscape, leading to regional tensions and the Civil War. It highlights the role of key figures, the rise of anti-slavery societies, and the use of media to galvanize public support. The essay also discusses the movement's internal conflicts, its evolving strategies, and its eventual split following the abolition of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment. It examines the movement's lasting legacy and its contributions to the fight for social justice and equal rights for African-Americans, drawing on various scholarly sources to provide a well-rounded perspective on this significant historical event.

Running Head: TRANSNATIONAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT
ASA 2025 Transnational Social Movement
Topic 4
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1TRANSNATIONAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Slavery has been a social disease for many centuries and has been practiced in the
Western and colonial world without any restraint and mercy. People in power have discriminated
poor people on the basis of the race and color of the skin which was the main foundation of the
concept of slavery. Slaves were brought from African countries and were sold to feudal lords to
work in their houses and fields and help to build their capitalist empire without getting any
payment or even proper food in return (Cutter 2017). These practices continued for centuries
before there were anti-slavery movements which proved to be a beacon of hope for a huge
number of slaves all around the world. The following discussion is about the Abolitionist
Movement which was an anti-slavery movement which happened few decades before the civil
war in America.
The goal of the Abolitionist Movement was to liberate slaves from the shackles of slavery
and racial discrimination with immediate effect (Mason 2017). The Abolitionist Movement was
different from other anti-slavery movements as it advocated the immediate liberation of slaves
which was in contradiction with other modern anti-slavery point of view which stated that there
should be gradual removal of slave culture and there were other free-soil activists which said that
slavery should be abolished in some states and it should be restricted to grow in the further West
(Pariseau 2017).The Radical Abolitionist Movement was started due to the religious reasons of
the Second Great Awakening which convinced people for liberation of slaves on the grounds of
religion. The ideas of Abolitionist Movement became popular in the Northern Part of the country
and politics began to happen on those grounds. This lead to regional hostility between the
Northern and The Southern States which lead to the outbreak of Civil War (Price 2017).
From the advent of Abolitionist Movement in 1830 it continued till 1870, continuously
urging for immediate liberation of slaves from their bondages and end the racial discrimination.

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These goals of Abolitionist Movement made it different from the broader ideas of slavery
abolition extending to more of the Western countries which led to the civil war after 1840s.
Although the feelings and goals of the Abolitionist Movement was strong at the time of
American Revolution, but it did not take form of a militant crusade which it further evolved in
1830s (Reilly 2017). It has been observed that most of the northern states have been affected by
many religious and evangelical movements which gave a spiritual guidance to the society. These
movements gave much emphasis on the will of God and the correct way of living which
deepened the effect of the Abolitionist Movement in the minds of people. It stressed on the moral
imperatives and discarded the sinful practices which were been executed in the slave society and
by the slave owners (Robertson 2017).
Popular newspapers like Liberator which was owned by some African-Americans
published number of articles in support of the Abolitionist Movement which played a vital role
in reaching the hearts and minds of the people making them to join the crusade against slavery
with will and courage. There were many American Anti-Slavery Societies which were found in
the light of the Abolitionist Movement which preached that slavery is a sin and it must be
abolished with immediate effect (Stoskopf and Bermudez 2017). These societies received a huge
response in terms of financial and moral support in the Northern States and found more than
hundred branches in the territory. These societies made posters and banners denouncing the
practice of slavery and filled the streets with it widely and openly protesting, taking the
Abolitionist Movement forward.
All these activities created a hostile environment in the Northern and Southern states and
provoked violent mobs which destroyed public property and burnt mailbags which contained the
banners of the movement (Vos 2017). The U.S. House of Representatives passed a “gag rule” in

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which the anti-slavery petitions were not entertained and banned their considerations. Later on a
leader of the Abolitionist Movement was murdered which led many Northern state citizens to
vote for the anti-slavery politicians and brought prominent converts into the limelight. But with
gradual integration of anti-slavery politicians in the movement, the leaders of Abolitionist
Movement came into conflict with each other (Robertson 2017). Some of the leaders and their
followers believed that the entire American society has been corrupted with the practice of
slavery; there is a need of radical spiritual change in the values of Americans to make this
Abolitionist Movement successful. To add to this moral suasion some leaders broadened the
scope of the movement by including the agenda of equal rights for women and to denounce the
corrupt studious practices of the church.
There is a debate on the change in values of Americans in all the states due to the
Abolitionist Movement but few historians believe that the most affected area was the Northern
State where maximum influence was observed (Stoskopf and Bermudez 2017).The patrons of
Abolitionist Movement had a deep impact of the religious practices of the American people
which was ambiguous to the Methodists and Baptists. They also found many anti-slavery free
churches in many states which was a sign of victory for the Abolitionist Movement. By the latter
half of the 1850s it was observed that there was a change in stance for the black people in the
political arena and the racial discrimination was subsumed. Many of the contributors of
Abolitionist Movement became supports of the Republican Party and proved to become military
champions during the civil war (Reilly 2017). This movement got split in 1865 when the
Thirteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution was passed abolishing slavery. This made the
existence of American Anti-Slavery Society meaningless. But only political equality for the
African-Americans was achieved and rests of the goals of Abolitionist Movement were still not

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fulfilled which kept the leaders of the movement from ending and dissolving it (Pariseau 2017).
When the Fifteenth Amendment was passed which extended the male suffrage to the African-
Americans the only the Abolitionist Movement considered its mission to be completed.

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References
Cutter, M.J., 2017. The Illustrated Slave: Empathy, Graphic Narrative, and the Visual
Culture of the Transatlantic Abolition Movement, 1800-1852. University of Georgia Press.
Mason, M., 2017. An Illuminating but Not Entirely Novel Window on Abolitionism. Reviews
in American History, 45(2), pp.259-262.
Pariseau, J.A., 2017. The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition.
Price, G.R., 2017. AAST 262.01: Abolitionism-The First Civil Rights Movement.
Reilly, K., 2017. Anti-Slavery Movements in British North America and the Transnational
life of “Obedient Servant” Samuel Ringgold Ward. Mount Royal Undergraduate Humanities
Review (MRUHR), 4.
Robertson, S.M., 2017. Marketing Social Justice: Lessons from our Abolitionist
Predecessors. Moving the Social, 57, pp.21-36.
Stoskopf, A. and Bermudez, A., 2017. The sounds of silence: American history textbook
representations of non-violence and the Abolition Movement. Journal of Peace
Education, 14(1), pp.92-113.
Vos, J., 2017. BEYOND EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN SLAVERY AND INTO THE
PRESENT-Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition, Edited by Martin A. Klein.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Pp. xxv+ 450. $85.00, hardback (ISBN 978-0-
8108-5966-1). The Journal of African History, 58(1), pp.149-151.