Civil Society: The formation of American Anti-slavery society (AASS)

The goal of AASS

The goal of AASS is to advocate and bring an immediate end to slavery. William Lloyd Garrison served as the steering chief when it was founded in 1833. The AASS had grown considerably by 1840 and had between 150,000 and 200,000 members. The AASS organized meetings, encouraged people to join a petition against slavery, and passed resolutions. Additionally, the AASS printed journals, solicited memberships, and distributed its propaganda in numerous volumes. (Upchurch 88). Participants in the AASS civil society were mainly drawn from the free black communities, philanthropic networks, and religious communities. The AASS had six black men who served as the initial Board of Managers to the civil society. The AASS carried out public meetings which featured the testimonies of former slaves such as Wells William Brown and Fredrick Douglas.

Formation of American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society

AASS split in 1839 over basic differences. Garrison along with his followers became more radicalized to an extent of denouncing the constitution of America on grounds that it supported slavery. Tappan brothers encompassed the less radical organization and led to the formation of “American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society” (Upchurch 89). This body did advocate for political actions and moral sanction which culminated into the birth of Liberty Party in 1840. The matter of antislavery did enter the mainstream of the US politics through the “Free-Soil Party” from 1848-1854 and afterward the founding of the Republican Party in 1854. The formal dissolution of AASS occurred in 1970 after the Civil War up rise and Emancipation.

Violent and Non-Violent Abolitionist

Nat Turner was a slave preacher who held a strong belief that God had sent him to save people. After having visions and encountering symbols such as the solar eclipse, he knew that the time for the violent rebellion had arrived. In August 1831, Tuner together with six men met and officially launched their rebellion revolt in Virginia, Southampton County. The violent rebellion started at Turner’s slave master house where they killed the entire family. Turner aimed at the creation of an act of terror and the entire rebellion resulted in the killing of 57 whites (Upchurch 81). The revolt lasted for 12 hours before militia suppressed it. Turner and 20 other men were captured and later killed. Primarily, Turner’s revolt is documented to have resulted in more deaths compared to any other anti-slavery revolt in the American history. Violent revolts led the creation of remarkable fear. Some people viewed Turner as being a true religious fanatic while others claimed that he was a deceptive cruel man who committed horrific crimes while hiding in the shades of religion.

Non-violent rebellions, on the other hand, involved peaceful demonstrations without acts of violent attacks in passing of the intended information. These rebellions managed to attract many participants among them, the elderly people and women. The Civil War that called on Civil Rights Movenment is an example of a non-violent rebellion. The reason behind the formation of Civil Rights Movement was to promote equality and realize liberty of the slaves. The ideas of the abolitionists became increasingly profound and its politics started to hit around 1830s and thus contributing to the regional animosity that led to the formation of the Civil War. The third parties did deny liberty of the slaves. The call for liberty in the third parties endured debates and promoted the role of the political abolitionists in the attempts of enforcing the need of liberating the slaves.

Role of the Media

Born in 1805 William Lloyd Garrison started working in 1818 when he was 13 years as an apprentice compositor. Shortly, he started writing articles where he and Knapp Isaac, a printer, decided to buy their newspaper from where they primarily contributed to the abolitionist movement through their publications. Garrison, later on, devoted himself in printing articles that condemned the act of slavery and among them was the famous Liberator newspaper. Besides, an example of antislavery articles that Garrison printed included “The Black List”. This was a column in the newspaper that was printed featuring short reports of dreadful slavery deeds such as kidnappings, killings, and brutal treatment. The Liberator was a weekly anti-slavery newspaper founded by Garrison in 1831. In this newspaper, he eloquently and fearlessly talked about the horror of slavery and called for its end.

Elizabeth Heyrick, born in 1789, she joined the Society of Friends in her attempts to bring a social reform. She was a prison visitor and devoted herself to the writing of political pamphlets that touched on a range of issues among them the ruthless treatment of the slaves. Her interest was driven at being an abolitionist of slavery with the colonies of Britain. In her Sugar Boycott campaign, she visited the entire grocers of the city calling on them to stop stocking slave-grown products. In her clearly elaborative message, she did describe the West Indian planters as being thieves and thus people who bought the goods were thieves too as they were receivers of these goods. In her quest, she wanted to see a forever end to the act of slavery and majorly criticized the anti-slavery mainstream figures. Through her pamphlets, with the “Immediate not gradual abolition” pamphlet as the notable one, Heyrick motion was taken to national conferences by the Female Society for Birmingham in the effort of bringing slavery to an end. Heyrick became an influential figure through her publications and in 1833 and her publications saw the establishment of the abolitionist of slavery Act. Thomas Payne is among the staunch abolitionists to have been reported in slavery historical grounds. Payne greatly contributed to the “African Slavery in America” and “A Serious Thought” anti-slavery organizations. He sternly called for anti-slavery and his milestone in the American slavery along with others saw great changes.

Role of Education in Fredrick Douglas Autobiography

Fredrick Douglass did believe that all individuals are equal and that education was the key to overcoming the pains of slavery and realize freedom. In his statements, he clearly indicated that everyone has to strive in making a better of him or herself and noted that self-improvement and education were essentially significant. The act of slavery was a devastatingly a public outcry to the blacks. Douglass voiced that slavery prevented people from making an improvement of themselves as they lacked education and in his argument, he stated that education and slavery are entirely opposite. Therefore, in his attempts to battle slavery, Douglass chose to expand his horizons of knowledge through reading and acquiring education and this moved proved to be greatly beneficial to him. Education gave Douglass the strength to grow and become and also transform massive changes to the state of the depressing act of slavery by bringing it to an end. Fredrick Douglass will continue to be one of the noteworthy figures that propelled the struggle for racial equality and freedom through civil rights.

Justification

The Black-Americans were by no chance inferior to the whites. This seemed to be the underlining factor behind slavery and subjected the blacks to massive torture and racial segregation. The Civil Right was an important factor in promoting equality as it ensured that every individual received equal treatment and that the constitutional bill of rights was fostered. The reasons that forced the move for civil liberty were constitutionality under the bill of rights and thus the move was justified. It promoted for equality in housing, education, and employment and addressed issues like disability, gender, and race. Protection of the human rights is legally significant. The civil rights ushered in a new sphere of liberties and made people enjoy equal rights and thus it was strategically sound and effective.