Slavery was ongoing in the southern states. In the 1800’s many white slave owners believed that the African Americans were inferior to them despite the fact that “”all men are created equal”. They were forced into labor and treated like property. The slave owners justified their behavior and believed they acted caring and conscientious to their slaves. Truthfully, however, the slaves were mostly treated very badly, as Fredrick Douglas, a black slave, testifies. There were select groups of white men who realized the abuses of slavery and worked to abolish it. Not many white people admired these abolitionists, but as time went by their support was increased.
There were many people against slavery by the 1820’s. many antislavery societies believed that the African Americans were an inferior race and could not coexist with the white people. The whites increasingly joined the African Americans in openly criticizing slavery. Charles G. Finney supported the whites for “abolition” and termed slavery “a great national sin”.
William Lloyd Garrison, a radical white abolitionist, was an editor of an antislavery paper. In his newspaper he delivered an uncompromising message. He wanted immediate emancipation, the freeing of slaves, with no payment to the slaveholders. Before Garrison announced this emancipation, support for this position was limited. However, many white abolitionists began to respond to his words in the 1830’s. Garrison founded the New England Anti-Slavery society in 1832 and helped fund it the following year also. Majority of his subscribers were African Americans. Many white men opposed Garrison when he attacked the churches and government for failing to condemn slavery. The whites distanced themselves even more when Garrison associated himself with David Walker. David Walker was a free black from North Carolina who moved to Boston. He urged blacks to rise up and take their freedom by force. Walker advised African Americans to fight