Relativism In Slavery

Supporters of slavery often pointed to the bible as an advocate for slavery. Nowhere did Jesus say that slavery was inhumane, cruel, or otherwise immoral. In fact the bible even mentions that it is a slave’s duty to serve their master. Those in favor of slavery interpreted this as favoring their cause. For those who were religious, Christianity gave strong reasoning for why

The Bible’s verses concerning slavery contradict other verses in several places when discussing slavery and the treatment of slaves. Ephesians 6:5-9 instructs masters to “give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Galatians 3:28 states that “[T]here is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Again, the Bible illustrates that slaves were equal to all others, stating “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, … whether we be bond of free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” Abolitionists undoubtedly used these quotes in order to put an end to slavery.

Ophelia Settle Egypt, informally known as Ophie, was an African American woman ahead of her time. She attained the educational status of less than one percent of the American population, was liberal and accepting of others despite the criticism around her, fought to end racism, worked independently of her husband, and believed in limiting family growth. All of Egypt’s beliefs and lifetime achievements represent a new type of woman: a woman who refuses to assimilate to her gender stereotype of weak, inferior, and domestic. Egypt dedicated her life to social work through various activities. She worked as a sociologist, researcher, teacher, director of organizations, and social worker at different times in her life. Egypt’s book, The Unwritten History of Slavery (1968), and the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Southeast Washington D.C. named after her represent Egypt’s legacy and how one person is capable of social change.

A common biblical reference that they used was The Ten Commandments, which states that one must never covet someone else’s house, manservant, or maidservant. Due to this ancient context that most Americans lived by at the time, it provided sufficient evidence that slavery was rather “human nature”, or a naturally occurring and cyclical practice in society. In addition to religion, pro-slavery activists and followers argued that bringing the Africans to the United States was a “win-win” situation. Bringing the Africans to the United States was actually a benefit for the Africans because they were being brought to a richer, prouder, and more valuable country. In a way, slavery was a way for the slaves to pay their slaveholders back for bringing them to such a “nicer” location.

Most southerners believed that they were doing a “favor” for slaves since slaves were uneducated people. They believed that by clothing them, feeding them, and putting a roof over their head they were creating a good for these people. Pro-Slavery South believed if these uncivilized people went off into the world, they wouldn’t survive, so for them to be

The way that slavery is spoken about in the bible makes it seem that the bible approves of slavery, when read in the literal meaning. Slavery was practiced all throughout the world, Noah cursed Canaan the son of Ham “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth” (Genesis 9:25-27). The Africans were thought to be descendants of Canaan and were supposed to be “servants of servants” (Morrison, 1980). In Larry R. Morrison’s article it stated “Jews would be exterminated as a nation and dispersed over the earth, but would be restored. However, nowhere in the Bible was there a prophecy which removed the curse of slavery from the descendants of Ham and Canaan” (Morrison, 1980). Evangelical scholars from the slave holding southern United Stated who were against the release of slaves came up with a comprehensive and well-known “biblical theology”

During the time prior to the twentieth century our world accepted slavery as a normal part of life. Aphra Behn and Phillis Wheatley, both female authors born about 100 years apart, had their own views of slavery and wrote poems and stories about the subject. These women were physically different, Aphra was a Caucasian, and Phillis was an African American, and their lives were rather different as well. Aphra was a spy and playwright, who lived the middle class life and Phillis, was a slave who was taken from her homeland, brought to America, sold into slavery, then later freed. I believe that both writers’ views were difficult to figure out, especially by just reading their works.

Now it might be said that it would be easier and more humane to free the slaves and pay them. But the answer for that is simple. Slaves are seen as Capital there is no need say in an economic downturn to get rid of slaves as there would be for paid workmen. To turn out a slave is to lose money. (Fitzhugh, Sociology, 1) Then there is the fact that a lot of Americans lower class white men are in poverty. They do not have enough food, enough clothing, or enough shelter. The condition of these people is worse than the slaves. Slaves are brought from the wild confines of Africa to live in comfort in America. (Fitzhugh, Sociology, 2) Slaves are hard workers, the are better at working in the climate of the south than those europeans that try and work the land. Sure it would be better to free them and pay them if we were in a place like england which has little land and lots of people. But in America it is opposite, there is tons of land and little people. If slaves are free what is to stop them from going and finding their own land? If that happens it will destroy the economy. It is better to have 1 plantation with 100 workers rather than have 100 plantations with 1 worker. The latter example will gain less income and the economy will fail destroying

What is slavery? Slavery is forced labor and this forced labor is what built America and made them become more developed. “Africans peoples were captured and transported to the Americas to work. Most European colonial economies in the Americas from the 16th century through the 19th were dependant on enslaved African labor for their survival.” Many claim that enslavement was very necessary in order for America to thrive and not die off for it is now one of the best countries in the world. However, slavery was not necessary in the Americas it was just a mechanism that just stripped Africans of their human rights, giving the slave masters the “right” to abuse them. Slavery was not necessary in the Americas because without slavery America would

In The Ideology of Slavery by Drew Gilpin Faust, in Chapter 4 which is James Henry Hammond that writes a letter to an English Abolitionist, in a section he describes how he believes that Slavery is not a sin and is approved by Christ. It would seem that while God commanded Moses to free his people that were slaves to the Pharaoh, “man” is overlooking these in the Bible and that they are creating their own law and how their religion differs totally by what they do. “I think, then, I may safely conclude, and I firmly believe, that American Slavery is not only not a sin, but especially commanded by God through Moses, and approved by Christ through his apostles” (Faust 175). When reasoning between what is right and wrong, Americans only found that what they were doing was not necessarily evil or wrong just that God permitted it, and also white Americans found slavery to be very significant for their own lives, due to the fact that their way of making money and making a living involved the owning of humans to make themselves the most profitable.

They claimed that slavery was “supported by the authority of the Bible and the wisdom of Aristotle” (p 353). Setting aside the cruelty and the doubts of the morality of slavery, the southern Christians believed they had blessed the Africans, “who were lifted from the barbarism of the jungle and clothed with the blessings of the Christian civilization” (p 353). Evidently, Christian slaveholders believed they were “saviors” in a sense, because they had given these people “luxuries” that they would not have received in Africa. Looking at this standpoint today, one can argue that these slave owners were not entirely incorrect: Do African Americans have more today than many people who live in Africa? Yes. But was what the slaveholders provided for their slaves better than what they could have had back in Africa? Most likely not. Regardless of the morality of the situation, in their eyes, some slaveowners were truly convinced that God wanted them to “do this” for the African people, and their “graciousness” was given to the African people by God’s will. With this set mentality of slavery being what God would want and the slaveholders being providers for their slaves, if slavery were to be taken away, it would be like going against God. Taking away slavery would take away the “support” given by the slaves’

Virgina has differences and similarities when it comes to slave narratives. To explain further, this is why the details and experiences that these ex-slaves gave in describing the institution of slavery and the practice of slavery are tremendously important because Virginia became a royal colony, the first in English history. However, the English kings were occupied with affairs at home, the Virginia house of burgesses was able to continue its functions and won formal recognition in the late 1630s. Thus, representative government under royal domain was assured. By 1641, when Sir William Berkeley became governor, the colony was well established and extended on both sides of the James up to its falls.

Christian defense of slavery was the justification of enslaving the blacks. A lot of these defenses based their arguments on the idea of caring for childlike and inferior slaves as part of a Christian duty. In the bible, Slaves belonged to the same

There were social developments in the South during this time period as well. Since slavery was an extreme moral issue, there were many people arguing either for or against it. The southern whites came up with many different reasons to defend slavery. One way they defended it was by saying that the Bible did not condemn it. They argued that the Bible said it allowed the enslavement of Heathens, which the south believed African Americans to be. They also said that many other societies depended on slavery, like they did. They believed that some of the greatest empires, like classical Greece and Rome, depended on slavery and would not have existed without it. Slavery defenders reasoned that African Americans didn’t have the ability to care for themselves and that they were an inferior race, in which needed someone to care for them. They argued that slaves in the South lived better than the factory workers of the North. Masters cared for the slaves; while northern workers had no claim to their employer. They thought that the manner in which the slaves were treated was much more humane than how the workers in the factories were treated.

Many Christians in the 19th century pointed to the bible as their moral justification for slavery. There were many mentions of slavery in the Ten Commandments using terms like manservant and maidservant. Jesus never had a position on slavery even though it was often used in the Roman Empire. Many Southerners interpreted as Jesus not being against slavery, which in their mind, made it ok to enslave