Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

“Abolition” means ending something, usually by making a rule or law. An “abolitionist” is someone who wants to make this happen. This term is often used to refer to people who were against slavery and wanted to bring an end to it. In the United States, slavery was legal from before the nation’s founding until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. Even in colonial days, abolitionists argued against slavery, believing it to be cruel and inhumane. Some early abolitionists were enslaved Black people who led revolts or who otherwise self-emancipated. Other early abolitionists were white evangelical Christians and Quakers who had religious beliefs against slavery. Abolitionists spoke out in public and worked to get laws passed to limit slavery. They succeeded in making it illegal to import more enslaved people to the United States in 1808 and worked to gradually make slavery illegal in the Northern states. Partially because they felt threatened by the work of abolitionists, 11 Southern states tried to leave the United States and form their own country in 1861. This was the cause of the US Civil War and eventually brought about the end of slavery in the United States.