Please help with a context clues question! Medal for best!

Use context to determine the meaning of the words in bold.

When, in March and May and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure.


The words in bold are: "I made earnest and successive appeals".

I made a few angry gestures.

I made several heartfelt requests.

I made two unenthusiastic attempts.

I made old-fashioned decisions.