What are the Enlightenment ideas are behind the abolitionist movement?

Answer 1

The Enlightenment had a significant influence on the abolitionist movement including emphasis on reason, individual liberty, natural rights, equality, the social contract, and universalism to name several important underpinnings.

Slavery had existed since the beginning of civilization over 15,000 years ago and practiced by nearly every group of people on the planet. However, with the Enlightenment, for the first time there is a major push to question practices and knowledge that formerly were blindly accepted.

I will not explain the first several terms as they are well known, however, I will discuss the social contract and universalism. The social contract was a concept created by the English Enlightenment thinker John Locke who stated that the government has an obligation to protect the people. That man gives up much of his freedom for security from the state and that the government therefore must act to protect all its people. Any government that fails to do so deserves to be overthrown. Universalism argues justice and morality applies to all human beings and that slavery cannot coexist in a society that claims to value such principles.

One can quickly see why strong abolitionist movements soon followed the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Many don't know this but there were very strong abolitionist movements in the American colonies led by groups such as the Quakers as early as the mid-18th century. Vermont abolished slavery as soon as it drew up its own state constitution in 1777 after the colonies rebelled from Britain. Then of course Britain itself would be the first country to abolish slavery in 1834 and proceed to spend countless pounds patrolling the high seas to police the slave trade.

In conclusion, the Enlightenment was a truly unique and significant movement that led to numerous positive outcomes and changes in societies all over the globe, one of which being the abolitionist movement.

Answer 2

The Enlightenment or the Age of Reason was the ideology that reason, logic, and the philosophers' belief that the universe was a mechanical clock, a theory of the power of mathematics to demonstrate the beauty of logic. Is it logical that humans are chattels? Is it logical that humans are meant to serve other humans as beasts of burden? Thus, the abolitionists used logical Deism to justify the abolishment and then to condemn slavery. According to Richard N. Current, author of "The Lincoln Nobody Knows," discusses Lincoln as a pragmatic, 'Real Politik' or politician, for he knew from first-hand experience the rhetorical necessity of compromise among Dixie Southerners that wanted slavery, and in fact these extremists threatened to stir up chaos, insurrection, and endanger the existence of the Union (129): They wanted peace after Lincoln recognized the Confederate boundaries. . . ."But peace . . . was meaningless without the preservation of the Union" (129).