Online Highways Home > >

Abolitionist Movement

Search Visit

The term abolitionist is used to describe people in the United States, Britain, and other countries who worked for the abolition of Slavery during the 1800's. Quakers and other groups had spoken out against slavery in colonial times, long before the movement got its name. The founding in 1833 of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which demanded the immediate and uncompensated end of slavery, marked the appearance of the true abolitionist phase of the antislavery campaign.

The abolitionist movement entered a new phase in 1840 with the organization of the Liberty Party. The party nominated James G. Birney for President in 1840 and 1844. In 1848, abolitionists became an important element of the Free Soil Party and in 1854, move of them joined the Republican Party, through which they finally realized their aims.

Many abolitionists allowed their homes to become "stations" for the Underground Railroad.