Sarah Grimke's Arguments For The Abolition Of Slavery

Sarah and Angelina Grimke were born and raised on a plantation in Charleston, South Carolina. Though 13 years apart in age, the two shared similar ideologies and were practically inseparable. At an early age Sarah, and later Angelina, came to question the morality of slavery. Sarah wrote that, “Slavery was a millstone about my neck, and marred my comfort from the time I can remember myself. " It wasn’t until their father fell sick and Sarah traveled to Philadelphia to help him receive medical care that she ever felt that she could do anything about the social inequalities that plagued society.

It is often said that slavery is the most important conflict in American history. Many people in the northern states in America were opposed to slavery, but the inhabitants of the southern states were mostly for it, as they depended on slaves for their economy. Most of the time, slaves were subjected to horrible living conditions, and treated even worse. Sarah and Angelina Grimke were two women who noticed the horrible injustices done against the slaves and decided to do something about it. The work of the Grimke sisters helped spread the news of abolitionism and women’s rights as well.

She believed that women have no voice or representation in Congress, and this would cause a rebellion, because women should be treated as equals. Likewise to women, African Americans were also treated differently than that of white men in

Banneker Writes to thomas jefferson about the wrongs of slavery. HIs purpose is to argue against slavery. Banneker does this by using an appeal to logic to prove how slavery is illogical, diction to show the cruelty of slavery, and parallelism to show that they are like the white men who wanted their freedom as well. Banneker shows how illogical slavery is to help create an argument against it. He pulls in the Declaration of INdependence, which Thomas Jefferson wrote, it says “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…” (lines 21-25).

However, when thought of, most people remember her contributions to the women’s rights movement. She, and other feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, began to realize that there were numerous similarities between slaves and women. Both were fighting to get away from the male-dominated culture and beliefs. In 1848, these women began a convention in Seneca Falls, regarding women’s rights(Brinkley 330). They believed that women should be able to vote, basing their argument on the clause “all men and women are created equal”.

During the first half of the 19th century in the United States, there were some African-Americans in the Northern states classified as “Free Blacks.” However, as these free Blacks are not slaves, they were not truly free. This group contained certain human rights such as voting, assembly, religion, school, and so on. Yet, all of previous rights mentioned had major restrictions. As well as limitations, there was most certainly discrimination against non-Whites.

The Nation grew increasingly divided through the mid-1800’s over the issue of slavery, to the extent that it bled into other issues, primarily as a tensioned pretense to admis-sion of new states to the Union. Presidents prior to Polk either passively or actively re-sisted the annexation of new territories or promoting statehood, recognizing the issue of slavery and probable effects of spreading or denying slavery. The North’s ideological opposition to slavery was equally as legitimate as the South’s reasoning, but with slave labor accounting for up to 50 percent of the population in the South, there was also ac-ceptance on economical basis. Vast new lands became American territory throughout this period, while other disputed lands had boundaries

Slavery, the most intensely debated phenomenon of not only the U.S. but of the our world. Despite the fact that slavery remained at large until the mid 19th century, opposition to slavery had been evolving across the country. There are many underlying forces and specific events that contributed to the opposition of slavery, for instance the abolition movement, Nat Turner’s rebellion, uncle Tom’s Cabin, the disagreement between the American people about slavery, and many others. Not to mention people had their own interest in slavery and it bothered some people in some ways. Opposition to slavery grew since the colonial period, especially in the North, as states Document A. In 1776, Delaware becomes the first state to prohibit the importation of slaves.

A working woman’s social status was still lower than a man’s. As Mary Paul described in her letter, women were often paid less, despite performing the same amount of work. Men would even receive double a woman’s salary, just due to their gender. That is unfortunately an economic issue that permeates today’s market as well. The letters expose the cultural hardships working women had to live through because of their positions in society.

She made us become aware to how women were treated and she trying to gain respect to those types of women. It may be story from another culture but at least we had the ability to read it and not been blind of issues like

She begins her letter by stating that John is working too frequently and not spending enough time with her and her family. She proceeds to denounce his work in office by stating that despite their government’s progress towards equality of all men, the women still deserve to have equal opportunities. Moreover, she also infers that a government is only as powerful as it’s people, thus, if not provided wit equal opportunities, the women will revolt against the government. Before reading this, I was unaware that women, especially women of higher class/power, were discussing equal rights and opportunities of women. I assumed that they would have primarily discussed this with the other women in their society rather than the men.

Sarah Grimke was a woman who fought for the eqaulity if sexes and whom did not accept the wrongdoings of slavery brought upon them. Grimke then became a leader for women’s rights and abolition to be able to express her strong viewpoint towards the way women were treated. In 1838, Grimke published letters, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women, in which revealed her criticisms and possible solutions. Mentioned in Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women, Grimke indicates the deficiencies of “the butterflies of the fashionable world.” She is referring to the class of women whose main purpose in life is to attract men with their looks in order to get married.

And while she was a teacher she called for equal payment for both men and women. As men had "no more brains than women". She finally found out that women were the reason for that as they did not own any money. It was because at that time, husbands controlled everything that their wives had.

“To the Ladies”, written by Lady Mary Chudleigh, is a poem that expresses feminism, and gives women a taste of how they would be treated in a marriage. Chudleigh displays this poem as a warning to women who are not married yet, as she regrets getting married. She uses such words that compares to slavery, and negative attitudes toward future wives to warn them. Back in this time period when the poem was published in 1703, women were known as property of men and you won’t have an opinion or a say so. The poem expresses a life of a naïve woman, who is bound to marriage by God, and she cannot break the nuptial contract.

In the book of vindication of the right of a woman, Wollstonecraft brings out clearly the roles of a woman in her society and how it has led to oppression of women (Wollstonecraft 22). Wollstonecraft believes that men and women are equal given the same environment and empowerment, women can do anything a man can do. In her society, education for women is only aimed at making her look pleasing to men. Women are treated as inferior being and used by men as sex objects. Wollstonecraft believed that the quality of mind of women is the same with that of men, and therefore women should not be denied a chance for formal education that will empower them to be equal with men.