Abolitionism was a pivotal social movement in the United States that emerged during the late 18th century and gained significant momentum in the early to mid-19th century. Its proponents advocated for the immediate and unconditional end to enslavement on moral, religious, and humanitarian grounds. The movement comprised a diverse coalition of activists including formerly enslaved individuals, free African Americans, white evangelicals, and intellectuals who utilized a range of strategies from oratory and publication of anti-slavery literature to political lobbying and direct action, such as aiding fugitive enslaved persons through the Underground Railroad.

This movement was instrumental in altering public opinion and elevating the issue of enslavement to a national discourse, thereby contributing to the growing sectional divide between the North and South. Key figures such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Brown brought personal testimony, moral urgency, and even militant action to the forefront of the campaign, challenging the legal and economic foundations of the enslavement system. Give Me Liberty! portrays abolitionism as a campaign against enslavement and a broader crusade for racial equality and human rights, setting the stage for the Civil War and the eventual abolition of enslavement with the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution.