America Past; D19; Abolition and Womens Rights

We. [music playing] The period between 1830 and 1860 was a time of widespread protest and reform; reforms concerning public education and alcohol abuse. The women's rights movement sprang from these reforms, especially from a movement that shook the nation to its foundations. Abolitionism--the attempt to

strike the shackles from four million slaves. No reform was pursued with the religious zeal that was characteristic of the abolitionists. They believed that they were attacking a mortal sin. And they attacked it in the presses and from the pulpits of America. To them it seemed intolerable that a nation that prided itself on being one of the world's great democracies should have slavery. While all abolitionists agreed that slavery was bad, they couldn't agree on what to do about it. Some felt the slaves should be purchased, freed, and returned to Africa. Others believed that, unfortunately, slavery in the South was protected by the Constitution. The slaves there could not be legally freed. That group concentrated their efforts on stopping its spread and keeping

slavery out of the new Western territories. Others, the more radical, said no. We're going to attack it right now, where it exists, and that is in the South. If the Constitution gets in the way we will ignore the Constitution. We're not going to wait for this to gradually die out. We're going after it now. If a baby falls into the fire you do not tell its mother to pull it out gradually. There are some things that must be done immediately. Lots of well-known people associated with the abolitionist movement. Certainly the best known, though in the long run maybe not the most important, was William Lloyd Garrison. Emotional, outspoken son of a drunken sailor from Newburyport, Massachusetts, he attacked this whole business with Puritan enthusiasm from the churches in New England. No compromise was to be allowed. He published a newspaper; called it the Liberator.

And in the first edition of that paper, he had this to say, "I do not wish to think or speak or write with moderation. I am in earnest. I will not equivocate. I will not excuse. I will not retreat a single inch and I will be heard." There were, of course, moderates, Theodore Weld, the Grimke sisters. South Carolina Quakers, who freed their slaves, came to the north to be involved in many reforms actually. James Birney of Kentucky. He ran for president on a platform that called for the abolition of slavery. There was a famous black woman, Sojourner Truth, once a slave herself spoke against the evils of slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe once heard her and later wrote about her impressions. "I do not recall ever to have been conversant with anyone who had more of that silent and subtle power that we call presence

than this woman." The best known black abolitionist was Frederick Douglass. In fact, he was the best known black man in America. Former slave, knew how to read, continued his education, Eloquent speaker. Any collection of great American speeches is almost certain to contain at least one by Frederick Douglass. "Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and denounce with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America." Douglas also published a newspaper. Called it the North Star because slaves followed the North Star

as they attempted escape to freedom. Abolitionists organized the Underground Railroad. Which was no railroad at all, but the secret system to help slaves escape into the free States. Or ideally, through onto Canada, from where they couldn't be returned. As a guide, a slave could keep his eyes on the North Star. Or he could follow the Big Dipper, follow the drinking gourd. Now the system used the terminology of a railroad. There were stations. If you were a slave that wanted to run away you probably knew through the Grapevine where these stations were, as a place you could go hide or somebody would help you. And they were conductors. They would move you from one station to another. So you go to a station and they

would hide you out during the day. The next night, they would move you on to another station. Sometimes they would use a false bottomed wagon like this. The slaves could lie in here. There'd be a board across that you see back there. And on top of that board they would pile sacks of grain or whatever, so that when the wagon went along and somebody saw it it just looked like a wagon full of Gunny sacks. The best known conductor on the Underground Railroad was a woman. Black woman, former slave named Harriet Tubman - made 19 trips into the south. May have freed as many as 300 people personally. Led so many of her people out of the South that she was later referred to as the Black Moses. Of course, both men and women, both black and white were involved in the Underground Railroad. In Indiana, there was a man who was so involved that he was referred to as the president of the Underground Railroad. His name was Levi Coffin.

Levi says in his book "Reminiscences" that on one occasion they had 17 fugitives around the dining room table. And that's the largest number that they ever talk about or he ever talks about us having here at one time. They hid slaves mostly upstairs in the garret, a little area off of one of the bedrooms that has a sloping roof line. It's easily concealed by pulling a bed over in front of a small doorway. Levi Coffin may have run as many as 2,000 people through this house during the years in which he was involved on the Underground Railroad. Now being involved in that sort of thing of course made an abolitionist feel good. Felt like you were doing something to alleviate human suffering. Of course everybody in the North didn't support the abolitionists. You shouldn't get the idea that all southerners favored slavery, and that all of northerners opposed it. There was a great

deal of prejudice in the North. Abolitionist speakers were always in danger. Elijah Lovejoy, who published abolitionist material, was murdered and his presses destroyed. You see, to many northerners the abolitionist was bringing up a question that might divide the country. Might destroy the Union. Most Southerners despised abolitionists. Oh they admitted that some of their stories of mistreatment were true, but they felt that abolitionists exaggerated the frequency of such abuses. And they found that the abolitionists didn't really understand that slavery was an economic necessity. "We know that the slavery issue, and the institution of slavery, is tantamount to our progress in this state. That we cannot give up." The Southerner also objected to the implication that not only was slavery bad, but that slave owners themselves

were inherently evil. "There's a notion that Southern gentlemen are a hybrid aristocracy. I believe there are in fact a race of lazy, ignorant, coarse, swaggering barbarians." In the 1850's, the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Sold 300,000 copies the first year. It's in that everybody could read about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Everybody could picture the mother and child fleeing across the frozen Ohio River. They read it, and they cried when they read it, and it gave them their picture of what slavery was like. "I know what slavery is like. I read Uncle Tom's Cabin." That would be a typical Northern view. To the Southerner, no. Harriet Beecher Stowe had spent eight days in the South in her entire life. What did she know? The book is abolitionist drivel.

The South just thought it was another attempt of Northern abolitionists to paint a false picture of the South. Many Southerners felt that abolitionists were attempting to foster slave rebellions. There had been a reasonably successful rebellion in 1831 under the leadership of a traveling black minister, Nat Turner. Southerners lived in fear that there would be more; a mortal fear that somehow a large number of slaves would be armed and start a major uprising. On the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown and a group of abolitionists, seized United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Apparently with the intention of taking the guns and arming the slaves. The South feared not only raids such as this, but the possibility that abolitionists would even be elected to office. "Those same cabel of Northern despots who paid the blood money for John Brown to murder your friends and

families are now trying a different tactic. They are trying in this very election, today, to place in power men who would work with them or work for them." Brown was captured and hanged. But to the North, he became a martyr, a man who gave his life for the freedom of the slaves. What do you say about the abolitionists? They're obnoxious certainly. They were shrill. They made a lot of noise. They were certainly brave, they had courage, they took risks. They were sincere. Some people saw them as really doing no good, doing harm. That they brought up

an issue, talked about it so much, caused the South to defend it more than they would otherwise, and led to a major war. Other people view them as bringing up an issue that had to be brought out. They maintained that not to bring it up would have been sin than bringing it up and leading to war. Well, whether they led to the war or not, whether it was them reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or the talk of the preachers, whether it was individual conscience, by 1860 most Northerners had decided that slavery was an evil and that somehow, some time it would have to be abolished. Two women involved in the abolition movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott,

attended a world anti-slavery convention in London. But being women they were not allowed to be seated. "While walking the streets of London, Mrs. Mott and I resolved to call a women's convention." This is Seneca Falls, New York and the organized women's rights movement began here in July of 1848. Three hundred people met in what was then the Westin chapel, and 100 of them signed a Declaration of Sentiments. It was patterned after the Declaration of Independence, only it said, "All men and women are created equal." Why were they meeting? Why did they feel the need to call a convention? Basically for two reasons. One, they objected to the prevailing attitude toward women and secondly, there were some specific laws

they felt needed changing. When examining the attitude toward American women you run into a curious contradiction. On one hand they were treated with respect--even put on a pedestal. But on the other, that respect would not come unless they confined themselves to the proper role. A role defined by society. A role that said, "You belong in the kitchen and in the home." There's a great deal of evidence as to the respect with which women were treated. Foreign visitors commented on it a great deal. They always referred to American women as respected, as bright, as independent. One visitor said the two things in the United States that impressed him the most were Niagara Falls and American women. Mrs. Trollope, an upper class English woman who traveled widely in the United States and wrote about it, commented on the

deference American men showed towards women. "The ladies always had the best place and the best tidbits at the table. They always had the best seats in the carriage." She didn't approve of the fact that women in America were always referred to as ladies. And even the lady was the wife of a nobleman. In America all women were called ladies. She was appalled when she visited a women's penitentiary, and found that the inmates were referred to as ladies. Other foreigners noted that American women controlled everything in society except, they added, politics and business. Even Benjamin Rush, a Philadelphia doctor who was a liberal on most issues, had this advice for a young bride to be. "Don't be offended when I add that from the day you marry you must have no will of your own." For all women it actually got worse by the early nineteenth century, at least in the city. In the colonies and on the frontier, women have the

greatest respect. They were an economic necessity. They did all sorts of jobs. The family could not survive without them. The women knew it, her husband knew it, the family knew it. Even in towns in colonial days there were certain skilled trades that were open to women but not the professions. "In the 18th century, women were not allowed into medical school either here on the first medical schools in Philadelphia in 1765, and even in England and Scotland. There are women practicing in medicine in the 18th century as doctoresses and they are outside the official established profession. The first woman who will be admitted to medical school in the U.S. is Elizabeth Blackwell, and that's nineteenth century." Why was there a change in the early nineteenth century? Well, in part because of the Industrial Revolution. The family farm had been sold. The family had moved to the town where the factories were. If a man is working in a factory

or managing a factory, what role would that leave for women? The wives of the poor went to work in the factories. They had to. They still had to help support their families. Well how about middle class, upper class women? What do they do? What do they do when tea parties and charity balls were no longer enough to fulfill them? Well, more and more of them went to school. But that was pretty much limited to the elementary level. Sometimes the rich would send their daughters to what was called a finishing school. Where you were taught etiquette and social skills, handwriting, what was called flourishing, fancy handwriting. One school advertised that they would make your daughter a star--a star in her husband's crown. But what if that wasn't enough? Well there was some chance for higher education. You could go to Oberlin College.

That opened in 1833 and admitted women. But it certainly was an exception. Some women were writers, great many were actually. Nathaniel Hawthorne called them a damned pack of female scribblers. Probably because their books were outselling his. But there was this attitude you see that limited good women to this role. There simply were very few opportunities to break out into the professions. But women also wanted some specific laws changed. Not just the attitude, some specific changes. The legal status of a wife had not changed since colonial times. "For of course I'm not allowed to make any contract unless it is with the approval of my husband. You see when, well, when a woman marries a man and woman become as one. And that woman is the husband."

When a woman got married all of your property went to the husband. The children belonged to the husband. If you earned a salary it was paid to the husband. If you wanted to make a contract, you could not do so without your husband's permission. Hardly any major decision was made without consulting the husband. Divorce, of course, was practically impossible. The French writer, de Tocqueville, said that it wasn't until after marriage that the real insignificance of American women appeared. No wonder some married women were singing, "I wish I were a single girl again." [woman singing] Many women sought an outlet in the reform movement, particularly in abolition.

But even there as non-voters, they were expected to play only a supporting role. "You do not have the vote. The laws of the land forbid you your voice. Please support your men. Sway your men." "We are not deciding the issue of mere women here today, we are deciding the issue for nations." Statements like that helped convince Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott that they should call a women's rights convention. That convention met here in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Why here? Well chiefly because Mrs. Stanton lived here. But also because this was the center of many reform movements. And Mrs. Stanton had many friends in the abolition and other reform movements. They met in Myrna Clement's house, and there they drew up what was called the Declaration of Settlement. In it, they said that the history of mankind was one of repeated

injuries by men against women. Then they listed some specific complaints each starting with the word 'he.' used. "He has made her, if married, in the eyes of the law legally dead. He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education. He has never permitted her to exercise her right to the franchise. He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant man." Oddly enough, the only resolution not passed unanimously was one that gave women the right to vote. Many women just couldn't see that as being their proper role. Seneca Falls created a furor. The press took up the cause. There were more conventions. There was a great deal of publicity.

One of the best known conventions took place in 1851 in Akron, Ohio. A group of men attended and they were harassing the women delegates. The black abolitionist, Sojourner Truth, took the platform and held the crowd spellbound. "That man over there say women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches and ought to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me into carriages or over mud puddles or gives me any best place and ain't I a woman? Look at me. Look at my arm. I have ploughed and planted and gathered into bonds that no man could had me. And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as any man, when I could get it. And bear the lash as well, and ain't I a woman?

I have borne 13 children. And seen most all of them sold off into slavery. And when I cried out in my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain't I a woman?" Conventions are fine, speeches can be inspiring, but by 1860 what had women really gained? More and more of them were in the workforce, but their pay wasn't even close to what a man was getting. So have they made any gains at all? Yeah. 11 states have passed laws allowing a married woman to keep control of her property. Most states allow the woman to make a contract, to make a will,

to bring civil cases into the courts, to have joint guardianship over her children. Those things are significant. Or perhaps even more significant was a change in attitude. As women organized meetings, as they petitioned legislatures, as they appeared more and more in public, as they put together a reform movement, people were impressed. Women who had had some doubts about the whole movement began to think maybe these people were on the right track. Some men began to question their attitude about the role of women. In 1860, it was still 50 years before women attained anything even resembling equal rights. But to obtain those rights, perhaps no longer seemed impossible.

[woman singing] "It was just 100 years ago, our mothers and our sires, lit up for all the world to see the flame of freedom's fires. Through bloodshed and through hardship, they labored in the fight. Today we women labor still for liberty and right. Oh we wear a yellow ribbon upon our women's breast. We are prouder of its sunny hue than of the royal crest. Twas God's pure primal color born of purity and light. We wear it now for liberty, for justice and for right. We boast our land of freedom, the unshackling of the slaves. We point with pride the bleeding hearts, to myriads of graves. They tell the story of a war that ended slaverys night, and still we women struggle for our liberty, our right."