废奴主义(abolitionism)，亦称废奴运动（约1783人～1888），在西欧和美洲发起的结束贩奴（Slave trade）和解放奴隶的运动。18世纪反对奴隶制度舆论在英格兰渐获支持，但在那些奴隶制度中心（西印度群岛（West Indes）、南美洲及美国南部各州）起初并未获得回响。1807年英国和美国的废奴主义者成功禁止非洲奴隶的输入，并把注意力转向解放那些已被捕的奴隶。不过，美国南部十一州仍抱守奴隶是一种社会和经济制度的观念。美国反奴隶制协会（American Anti-Slavery Society）在北方发起废奴运动，着名人物包括加里森（William Lloyd Garrson）、道格拉斯（Frederick Douglass）、史托（Harriet Beecher Stowe）。林肯（Abraham Lincoln）在竞选总统时，也反对把奴隶制扩展到西部，随让整个运动出现了转折点，结果导致南方各州脱离联邦引起美国南北战争（American Civil War）。後来在1863年发布「解放宣言」（Emancipation Proclamation），1865年又通过第十三号宪法修正案，解放美国的所有奴隶。1888年拉丁美洲的奴隶制最後也被废除。

English version：

abolitionism

Movement to end the slave trade and emancipate slaves in western Europe and the Americas. Antislavery sentiment gradually gained support in England in the 18th century, but initially had little impact on the centers of slavery—the West Indies, South America, and the southern U.S. In 1807 British and U.S. abolitionists successfully banned the importation of African slaves, and turned their attention to winning the emancipation of slaves already in captivity. The 11 Southern states of the U.S., however, clung to slavery as a social and economic institution. The American Anti-Slavery Society fueled the abolitionist movement in the North. Major American abolitionist figures included William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. The election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the spread of slavery into the West, marked the issue's turning point; the resulting secession of the Southern states led to the American Civil War, which in turn led to the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1865), freeing all slaves in the nation. Slavery was finally abolished in Latin America by 1888.