Is it true that the abolition movement in the 1800s was also to stop the wealthy people in the south?

Question

So they wanted to take away the slaves so they would make less money?

Answer 1

Well, that may have been part of the movitvation for some northerners. However, a VERY SMALL percentage of landowners ever owned slaves.  Abolitionism was driven more by religious conviction than commerce.

Answer 2

The South was already on the way out economically and politically, part of the reason they seceded was because they recognized that the disproportionate power they'd held since the Revolution was being challenged by the massive growth in population and industrial wealth in the North, while the cotton and agricultural industries remained stagnant.  The abolitionist movement was driven mostly by churches and political liberals in the North, while the industrialists only became involved in the Republican cause during the war and Reconstruction.