What is abolition?

  • (noun): The act of abolishing a system or practice or institution (especially abolishing slavery).
    Example: "The abolition of capital punishment"
    Synonyms: abolishment

Famous quotes containing the word abolition:

    ... this nation is rotten at the heart, and ... nothing but the most tremendous blows with the sledge-hammer of abolition truth, could ever have broken the false rest which we had taken up for ourselves on the very brink of ruin.
    Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)

    There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. They will then be the only slaves. Only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts his own freedom by his vote.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Woman—with a capital letter—should by now have ceased to be a specialty. There should be no more need of “movements” on her behalf, and agitations for her advancement and development ... than for the abolition of negro slavery in the United States.
    Marion Harland (1830–1922)