Abolition

Susan B. Anthony is frequently recognized as the most influential leader in the struggle for women's suffrage in America.

The term “Bleeding Kansas” refers to the violence and bloodshed that occurred in the Kansas Territory during the 1850s.

John Brown was an ardent abolitionist whose raid on the federal arsenal in October 1859 intensified the sectional dispute over slavery in the United States and hastened the nation toward civil war.

Key facts about ardent abolitionist John Brown.

After escaping from bondage on September 3, 1838, Frederick Douglass became a highly-acclaimed orator and writer supporting the abolition of slavery before the Civil War and the enactment of African American rights during Reconstruction.

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It stated that people held as slaves in areas that were in rebellion against the United States were free.

The Freedmen's Bureau was an important agency of the early Reconstruction Era, assisting freedmen (freed ex-slaves) in the South.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 required states to return fugitive slaves to other states from which they had fled. The law was enacted by Congress in reaction to a dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia over the kidnapping of a black man in Pennsylvania by three Virginians. The act provided alleged fugitive slaves with no protection of habeas corpus, no right to trial by jury, and no right to testify on their own behalf. 

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed by Congress as one provision of the Compromise of 1850. The harsh terms of the act angered many Northerners and contributed to the sectional division over slavery that led to the American Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln was an American political leader during the 19th century. Rising from humble beginnings, Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States in 1860. Lincoln's election prompted the secession of several Southern states and eventually the beginning of the American Civil War. Lincoln served as president and commander-in-chief throughout most of the conflict before an assassin's bullet tragically cut his life short on April 15, 1865.

Lucretia Mott was an early advocate for abolition, women’s rights and Woman Suffrage. She was a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s and helped found the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. After she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in London, England in 1840, she became involved in the women’s rights movement and helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.

Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation stated that people held in slavery in designated areas in rebellion against the United States as of January 1, 1863 would be freed from bondage.

Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, Presidential Proclamation 93, also known as the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation stated that people held in slavery in areas designated in rebellion against the United States as of January 1, 1863, would be freed from bondage.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a leading figure in the movements for abolition, women’s rights, and Woman Suffrage. She played a key role with Lucretia Mott in the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and is the author of “The Declaration of Sentiments,” which called for social and legal changes to the status of women. She also collaborated with Susan B. Anthony on speeches, books, and articles devoted to the Woman Suffrage Movement.

Born into bondage in New York, escaped slave Sojourner Truth was a renowned champion for abolition, women's rights, temperance, and prison reform during the 19th Century.

Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave and a conductor on the Underground Railroad who made between eleven and thirteen trips to the South escorting about seventy slaves to freedom. She was known as the “Moses of her people.”