Abolishment of Slavery

During the Revolutionary War, many patriots found it contradictory to be fighting for their own freedom while Americans held massive numbers of people in bondage. Some questioned slavery on economic grounds. Others advocated ending the slave trade but not freeing the slaves (Mayer, 52). Still other antislavery advocates opposed only the extension of slavery into the territories. While these divergent interests often merged, the religious abolitionists always fought against the immorality of slavery and remained, throughout, the most radical element in the fight to free the blacks (Jeffrey, 18).

Gradually, however, the abolitionists gained the support of most of the ...