The earliest abolition society was organized by the Quakers in 1775, who had been active in the cause for abolition since 1688. Quakers throughout the coloni.es from 1688 to l758 held slaves but were required by their church to treat them humanely. By 1693 Quaker George Keith published the first antislavery literature in America. Eventually, all the church forced its members to end slavery. As a result of tins, not only would Quakers organize and run the first abolition societies, but they would also start and remain an important part of the Underground Railroad in both the North and the South. 

By the early nineteenth century. the morality of slavery was being questioned throughout the world, England and France were moving toward abolition in the colonies and would do so in the mid-1800s­ England in l 838 and France in 1848. In America, many free blacks, mulattos, and northern whites became abolitionists and denounced the institution of slavery. These abolitionists were dedicated to ending slavery in the United States. They raised money to help runaway slaves, printed antislavery newspapers and flyers, and lobbied Congress to end the institution of slavery in America. As the movement grew, so did disagreements among abolitionists on what strategies should be used to end slavery. There were three basic groups· the conservatives. like William Lloyd Garrison, the moderates like Frederick Douglass, and the radicals. like David Walker. The conservatives and moderates chose to protest and other nonviolent means, while radicals advocated violence in the form of uprising and slave revolts. Members of all three groups agreed on and supported smuggling slaves out of the South to freedom in the North on the Underground Railroad. The earliest known routes of the Under­ ground Railroad were conducted by the Quakers, who often used their homes, churches, and Indian reservations to hide runaway slaves from slave catchers.