Historians usually refer to “the Abolitionist Movement”, as occurring in a distinct time period between the 1700’s and the 1860’s, during which the United States commenced a major effort to put an end to the slave trade. Through this time period, innocent people were torn from their families and homes by white men profiting from the slave trade and forced to traverse to America where they would spend the rest of their lives working without any form of compensation. Upon their capture, slaves would then be sold at auction; whoever had the most money to spend would walk away with the most skilled and strongest slaves available. After being purchased, the slaves would arrive at whatever plantation they would live on under incredibly harsh conditions. …show more content…
"A Slaves Dream" recalls the major slave population’s desire for freedom, especially from those who were kidnapped from their homelands. The hopelessness brought about by these feelings of desire is reproduced for the reader due to Longfellow’s vivid writing style. "The Slave In The Dismal Swamp” exhibits the courage of small portion of slaves who were brave enough to risk everything they had for the sake of their own potential freedom. Longfellow creates a building tension that reflects the dread runaways felt and passes it on to the reader. As said by Walt Whitman, Longfellow was the perfect “expresser of common themes…” (Reynolds 593), which became evident when the Abolitionist writers shared their work and the voice against slavery became larger.. As Longfellow's poetry spread across Eastern Europe to America, many established writers began to share Longfellow's work, praising him highly, including that of Edgar Allen Poe who called him “unquestionably the best poet in America” (Meyers 171). Many people overlook the fact that despite having obvious differences, the minorities were, in fact, people just like them. It wasn't until people began to analyze the opposite side of the spectrum that any progress was made in the anti-slavery movement of the