The Enlightenment, which espoused the importance of individual rights combined with the religious sentiment of the era, helped spawn a powerful new movement aimed at abolishing the institution of slavery. In the United States, the Anti-Slavery Society in the industrialized northern states held that slavery robbed the African of his inherent "natural" rights. On these grounds, the Abolitionists lobbied for the immediate cessation of slavery and created the Underground Railroad as a means to help slaves escape.