Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Abolitionist society
(1,244 words)

During the Enlightenment, the concepts of freedom and equality, rooted in natural law together with the conviction that slavery was contrary to Christian teaching, led to increasing criticism of the slave trade in Western Europe. In  North America,  Quaker groups founded abolitionist societies in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities beginning in 1775. The 1780s saw the establishment of the first such societies in Great Britain. There, too, the central role of nonconformist Protestant movements was noteworthy. Quakers, Unitarians, Methodists, and others used the …

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Bader-Zaar, Birgitta, “Abolitionist society”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_016926>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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