This was a movement to abolish slavery on the US. The slave states had become dependent on slave labor long before the United States was formed. The right to retain slaves and even some credit for slave population in the assigned of Congressmen was put into the Constitution. However, many people in the free states hated the idea of slavery and as world opinion began to move against slavery,organizations were formed to abolish slavery in the United States.They published newspapers and tracts showing the evils of slavery and some people became radical and violent in their protests against slavery. As the time of the Civil War approached, the term"abolitionist" came to mean a person with an extreme position against slavery, a person who wanted to end slavery now and at whatever cost.
