There are several events that strengthened the antislavery movement prior to the Civil War. These events include the establishment of an antislavery newspaper, the tension Elijah P. Lovejoy's death caused, the law passed in 1850 denying runaway slaves the right to a trial, Harriet Beecher Stowe's involvement in the movement, The Dread Scott Case, and finally the John Brown movement. Collectively, these events supported and established the antislavery movement prior to the Civil War.
As early as the eighteenth century, people such as the Quakers had been opposed to slavery and began to form manumission societies early in the nineteenth century. In 1817, the American Colonization Society was established. Its main concept was to convince free blacks to move to a settlement in West Africa called Liberia. However, this was unsuccessful due to the fact that most blacks wanted live out their lives where they were born and raised.
…
