Slavery Argument Against Slavery

Slavery has been a widespread practice for decades, before slowly disappearing. In the period from 1776 to 1852 there was both opposition and approval for slavery in the United States. However, underlying forces such as change in religious morals, the rise of abolition groups and the abolition movement, and support in the black community contributed to growing opposition over slavery in this period. Change in religious morals was probably one of the major causes for growing opposition to slavery. People were beginning to use Christian ideals to support the stance that all men were created equal, as stated in the Declaration of Independence that was signed in 1776 when the nation was first founded.

In the United States there was a heated debate about the morality of slavery. Supporters of slavery in the 18th century used legal, economic, and religious arguments to defend slavery. They were able to do so effectively because all three of these reasons provide ample support of the peculiar institution that was so vital to the South.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue of African slavery in America in the antebellum by late eighteenth century and before the antebellum crisis as discussed in Paul Finkelman’s book: Defending Slavery.

All in all, Slavery caused a great grief in America, it is a part of history we have to deal with and learn from, Slavery caused the civil war which almost killed a whole generation of men, The civil war separated the nation into two and when the north won the war, they had to reevaluate their country and create a better government. Without the civil war America would be a different place, maybe a country with slaves or a country that is deep in

In the article “The Central Theme of Southern Slavery” Ulrich B. Phillips asserts that among several other motives that served as a drive for white Southerners to support slavery, the predominant one was their desire to preserve white supremacy in the South. He claims that all of the states in the US are similar except for the opinion about slavery. Phillips emphasizes that the idea of slavery in the South was important and perceived by southerners as heritage and a tradition. He also claims that the institution wasn’t merely economic, but also a system of social order. In addition, the white southerners saw abolition as a major threat to their economic freedom. According to Phillips, some Southerners saw deportation of african-american citizens as another solution to the slavery crisis in the United States. However,

Through our current world, we are able to see how our ancestors were able to shape the world we live in today. From where state lines are drawn to the political views of that state to finally the culture of each state, can be drawn back to one issue. An issue that is still showing it face, but in a different form, today. That is the topic of slavery. The issue of slavery is an issue that shaped the development of the United States, and is the cause of the political unrest we can see in our everyday lives. Slavery has shaped the development of the American Republic by establishing clear political boundaries for each state,

Calhoun stated, “Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day,attained a condition so civilized and so improved,”.John C. Calhoun a defender of slavery says this making it as though slavery was good for themselves but also good for the impact on the slaves or African Americans.Second, in Slavery a Positive good William Joseph Harper says that slavery stops the evils of civilization as douglass says it is the evil, as Harper exclaims, “anticipates the benefits of civilization and retards the evils of civilization.” This exhibits that in the pro-slavery argument they think as slavery a good and not an evil while Douglass clearly thinks badly of slavery as he was one of the leading abolitionists.Third and last of all, in the Slavery a Positive Good James Henry Hammond says the laws of slavery is peaceful and dulcet.Like he states, “ abolition was a threat to the peaceful and harmonious implementation of necessary social laws.”This ratifies that as defenders thought that these laws were right for peace Douglass states multiple times how slavery is tearing families apart from each other and their homes and how they are treated worse then

John C. Calhoun, an influential political leader and a believer of state’s rights, asserted that the termination of slavery should be opposed for the reason that the preservation of the union is a chief goal in any established society. However, he argued that the elimination of slavery would cause chaos in the South for the sole reason of

From the Revolutionary War onwards, the South has been developed as the shining example of what an American should be like. Slavery was a huge attribute of Southern society, though looked down upon by the world, it was practiced and eagerly defended by political logic and religious zeal. One argument is made from a Senator

The issue of slavery was becoming more and more prominent in the years between 1820 and 1865, and was creating a lot of sectional tension between the North, who tended to hold abolitionist beliefs, and the South, who were generally pro-slavery. Many arguments were used to defend slavery, but many of these arguments ignored some crucial details. For instance, moral arguments against slavery tended to ignore the horrible conditions slaves were forced to live in; economic arguments ignored many viable solutions to their problem; and political arguments ignored blatant bias.

Calhoun believed the liberty Southerners enjoyed depended on slavery. Contrary to the writings of those who unabashedly celebrated the North's free labor system, antebellum Southern society, though definitely stratified, was highly fluid. Fortunes could be and were made in a single generation. Agriculture, specifically cotton, was what made that society so mobile. Cotton was a labor-intensive crop, and as a farmer acquired greater cotton wealth, he required a greater number of field hands to work his expanding fields. So the ownership of slaves became a measure of status and upward mobility. To destroy slavery, according to Calhoun, would be to destroy a powerful symbol of what motivated the Southern man to improve himself, but in turn, slavery had to continue.

Throughout the 1800s, the United States was divided between those who wished to stop the spread of slavery mainly in the Northern states, and those who demanded to preserve slavery namely the Southern states. One may ponder how a member of society could be a proponent of slavery; however, Calhoun was raised in the South where a person’s value was often measured by the amount of property they owned. It was

Senator John C. Calhoun sees the positives of slavery, “I believe when two races come together which have different origins, colors, and physical and intellectual characteristics, that slavery is, instead of an evil, a good,—a positive good.” I believe that Senator Calhoun is referring to the diversity of United States, where multiples races get together and share their unique backgrounds. I agree with this statement because diversity is a huge part of United States and without it, I believe the country wouldn’t be as successful as it is today. Dr. Martin Luther King states, “Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.” He has a similar opinion as Senator Calhoun.

“Only a minority of the whites owned slaves,” “at all times nearly three-fourths of the white families in the South as a whole held no slaves;” “slave ownership in the South was not widespread;” “not more than a quarter of the white heads of families were slave owners, and even in the cotton states the proportion was less than one-third;” “in 1850, only one in three owned any Negroes; on the eve of the Civil War, the ration was one in four;” and slave owners “probably made up less than a third of southern whites.” From the US History textbooks in an elementary school to the Civil War journals of a major university, these lines are reprinted and repeated in an attempt to shape the perception of the public and to ease

In the nineteenth century, supporters of slavery used legal, religious, and economic arguments to defend the institution of slavery. Southern plantation owners depended heavily on slavery. Cotton, their main export, required tedious slave labor. Thus, southern supporters of slavery employed whatever tactics they could in order to keep their slaves from emancipation, which worked and extended slavery for a few more decades. As the abolition movement picked up, southerners became organized in their support of slavery in what became known as the pro-slavery movement.