Slavery During The Pre-Civil War Era

In the Pre-Civil War era, America was disembodied over the issue of slavery from the North and South. Inventions such as the cotton gin and the steel plow boomed the need for slave labor in the South, so much that their population in that area increased from ⅓ to ½ from the 1840s to the 1860s. The call for freedom for all African Americans loomed with slave rebellions and the abolition movement. However, Southerners and its slave owners vowed to keep their slaves, needing a workforce to labor on their cash crop plantations, that made up the vast majority of their economics. Many abolitionists including David Walker, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Highland Garnet, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, and Angelina Grimké Weld poured their hearts out to decimate slavery once and for all. They used their voices for liberty for all Americans. But the most prominent and impactful abolitionist of his age was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, also known as Frederick Douglass. His efforts were definitely rewarded when slavery was abolished on December 18, 1865, when the 13th Amendment was officially decreed into the Constitution. Frederick Douglass was one of the most astonishing abolitionists of the nineteenth century, through his fearless leadership, dominant voice and his antislavery writings. Douglass made great strides as a renowned activist through his occupation in the Anti-Slavery Society. After fleeing from the bondages of enslavement, in Maryland at age of 20, Douglass gradually emerged as a notable reformer. He recuperated as a free black in the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, with his wife and children. After getting a job maintaining a ship, Douglass became fascinated by the abolitionist movement/society, led by activists like William Lloyd Garrison and his newspaper The Liberator. With the voices of reform from Garrison, William C. Coffin, and many others, Douglass grew devout to put an end to slavery. In August of 1841, Douglass traveled to Nantucket, Massachusetts to be associated with the convention of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society orchestrated by well-known advocates. As he listened, William C. Coffin invited him to speak, because it was customary for people who were once slaves to give testimonies. First, when Douglass started on the podium, he stammered and stumbled after every couple of words. But after he broke the ice, he captured his audience with his “commanding and rich oratory” while telling his life story. All of the members were blown away by his unexpected speech, to the point that the director of the organization, John A. Collins offered him a job as a lecturer. Immediately, Douglass perceived that being a professional speaker would cause others to judge him.On the other hand, his drive and passion for the cause propelled him to take on the job offering and become an agent for the society. The main reason Douglass was employed was so that he could roam the country …show more content…
He traveled through New York and New England advocating for young, black men to become soldiers. Douglass traversed over tons of miles attending recruitment conventions, and as a result, positions bulked up with soldiers. His message was simple but potent: let blacks be called into service and form into a freedom-fighting force. He rallied all blacks and called them “Men of Color in Arms.” His efforts paid off when Congress passed an act validating the enlistment of blacks.“ By the end of the war, about 186,000 African American men had …show more content…
Frederick Douglass most important legacy was the use of his words to fight for the freedom and rights of African Americans [women and minority groups].” He used his own symbolism to, at every opportunity promote anti-slavery throughout his many newspapers and works that boldly described the issues of slavery.
His attributes to convey messages using writing and speaking elevated him up to emerge as one of the most illustrious people of the 1860s and receive the grand title of the “Father of Civil Rights.” Douglass, equipped with his extraordinary writing techniques, published 3 autobiographies; Narrative and Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, My Bondage and My Freedom, and The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. He issued newspapers such as the North Star, Frederick Douglass’s Paper, and the Douglass Monthly to further more elaborate on his stance of the