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How did the abolitionist movement start in the United States?

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abolitionism Abolitionist Wendell Phillips speaking against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 at an antislavery meeting in Boston. In the rigorous moral climate of New England, slavery was anathema, and much of the fire and righteousness of the abolition movement originated there.

The abolitionist movement in the United States began with Enlightenment thinkers criticizing slavery for violating human rights and with evangelical religious groups condemning it as un-Christian. Early efforts, like those by the New York Manumission Society founded in 1785, focused on ending the slave trade and gradually emancipating slaves. By the late 18th century, moral disapproval of slavery was widespread, leading to the abolition of slavery in states north of Maryland. The movement gained momentum with figures like William Lloyd Garrison, who published the influential anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator starting in 1831, advocating for immediate emancipation. Free Black communities also played a crucial role, establishing their own institutions and becoming some of the first abolitionists.1234