abolitionists

Abolitionists were individuals and groups who sought to end slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Active from the 18th through the 19th centuries in Europe and the Americas, abolitionists included writers, religious reformers, politicians, and formerly enslaved people. They argued that slavery violated natural rights and Christian moral principles, and they urged legal and political action. They used pamphlets, lectures, petitions, and lobbying to influence public opinion and policymakers. Some pursued immediate abolition, while others favored gradual emancipation or compensation for emancipated enslaved people.

In Britain, the movement gained momentum in the late 18th century with figures such as William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp, and Olaudah Equiano, and organizations like the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The Slave Trade Act of 1807 ended the British trade in enslaved people; the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery in most British colonies. In the United States, abolitionism grew in the 1830s around groups like the American Anti-Slavery Society. Notable abolitionists included William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, and Wendell Phillips. They published anti-slavery literature, organized petitions, and supported the Underground Railroad; more radical voices, such as John Brown, argued for more forceful action. The abolitionist movement contributed to the eventual legal end of slavery in the United States, culminating in the 13th Amendment in 1865.

Legacy and impact include shaping broader human rights and civil rights movements, influencing debates over reform, gender equality, and racial justice. Abolitionists were diverse in strategy and background, and their work laid groundwork for subsequent social reform movements and ongoing anti-slavery advocacy worldwide.