| Term | Definition |
| abolition | the act of ending something; during this historical period, the movement to end slavery |
| William Lloyd Garrison | radical abolitionist, editor of The Liberator which promoted immediate emancipation |
| emancipation | freeing someone from the control of another |
| David Walker | wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, 1829, advised blacks to fight for freedom rather than wait for slave owners to end slavery |
| Frederick Douglass | former slave, popular public speaker who gave speeches for abolition, publisher of The North Star,anti slavery newspaper |
| Nat Turner | preacher, lead the deadliest slave revolt in American history in 1831 |
| antebellum | belonging to a period before a war; during this historical period, the period before the American Civil War |
| gag rule | a rule limiting or preventing debate on an issue |