HISTORY
BY CHASE BISHOP
First Abolition Societies
The first American society dedicated to the cause of abolition, is founded in Philadelphia in 1775. This society decided to change their name to The Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of Slavery and the relief and free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage in 1784. leading Quaker and abolitionist Anthony Benezet called the society together two years after he persuaded the Quakers to create the negro school at Philadelphia. In 1750, Benezet began teaching slave children in his home after regular school hours, and in 1754, established the first girls' school in America. With the help of fellow Quaker John Woolman, Benezet persuaded the Philadelphia Quaker Yearly Meeting to take an official stance against slavery in 1758. Benezet counted Benjamin Franklin and John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, among his sympathetic correspondents.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-american-abolition-society-founded-in-philadelphia
Religious Movement
http://www.shmoop.com/abolition/religion.html
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-was-northwest-ordinance-1785-important-343209
The Rise of the Underground Railroad & Its Leaders
http://www.historynet.com/underground-railroad
A conductor of the underground railroad, Harriet Tubman, escaped from slavery but returned to slave-holding states many times to help other slaves escape. She lead them safely to free northern states or to Canada. When ever Tubman led a group of slaves to freedom, she placed herself in great danger. There was a bounty offered for her capture because she was a fugitive slave herself, and she was breaking the law in slave states by helping other slaves escape.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/tubman/aa_tubman_rail_1.html
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, is published. The novel sold 300,000 copies within three months and was so widely read that when President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he reportedly said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war."
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/uncle-toms-cabin-is-published