Slavery Dbq

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.

Economics was an enormous factor in the support of slavery. The South was dependent of slave labor to run the large plantations that shipped King Cotton, their main product, out to the North as well as abroad. Southerners argued that emancipation would destroy their economy. Furthermore it would hurt the economy of the North which depended on the raw materials from the South for its manufacturing. In addition to slave owners middle and lower class workers often took pro slavery positions because they did now want job competition. Four million new free people would certainly increase job competition and lower wages. In this way it is clear that economically supporters of slavery had a strong case.

As we already noted – in the 1800s expediency of slavery was disputed. While industrial North almost abandoned bondage, by the early 19th century, slavery was almost exclusively confined to the South, home to more than 90 percent of American blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Agrarian South needed free labor force in order to stimulate economic growth. In particular, whites exploited blacks in textile production. This conditioned the differences in economic and social development of the North and South, and opposing viewpoints on the social structure. “Northerners now saw slavery as a barbaric relic from the past, a barrier to secular and Christian progress that contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and degraded the free-labor aspirations of Northern society” (Barney W., p. 63).

William Livingston is arguing that colleges are "a matter of such grand and general importance." He believes that colleges should not be controlled by any one religious sect in order for the college to gain support from all colonists of different religions.

Researchers found that more than ten thousand people are in forced labor across 90 US cities. These people are forced to work in sweatshops, clean homes, work on farms, or work as prostitutes or strippers. Many of these cases are accumulated in areas with large immigrant populations, like California, New York, and Florida. Most of the victims of forced labor are “imported” from 38 different countries. China, Mexico, and Vietnam top this list of countries (Gilmore 1).

Although Abraham Lincoln wanted to free African American slaves and thought slavery was wrong he did not believe they should have the same social and political rights. The mid 1800s was a time that separated the black and white race immensely. The northern states and the southern states of the United States was divided on the issues of slavery among other reasons which led to the civil war. The civil war was the beginning of struggling African American slaves journey to freedom with the help of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery in the northern states never reached the severity in most plantations that it did in the South, and it was common knowledge that being a slave in the South was, in a way, more harsh than the North, leading to a much larger number of slaves being held captive in southern states. Many people in the southern states used biblical passages to justify slavery and said that if slavery was abolished there would be unquestionable chaos and unemployment. Despite all of the people that did not think that slavery was wrong, one man stood and took the blunt of the judgement by the people named Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln viewed slavery as wrong, but knew that the nation’s founding fathers struggled with how to address the issue of slavery. There were several ideas on how abolish slavery during the 1800s, including colonization and the Emancipation Proclamation, but these ideas were not introduced into law because the general public

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,

Wealthy slaveholding families also dominated politics on both a regional and national level in the ante-bellum era. Slavery, like land, was seen as a sign of wealth, and wealth would provide families with the means to educate their children at private institutions. These families would lose their “investments” (slaves), if slavery was outlawed, therefore the system was “at the core of southern politics, determining issues and influencing men” (192). The need to defend slavery even led to the ultimate demise of the Whig party in the south. Slavery, according to Carl N. Degler, “gave a new, but false, unity to southern political thought” (192). Although the institution of slavery may have unified the south, the effects were temporary, and southern political freedom was cursed with restrictions. The political ideals of the south established by the cursed institution of slavery would eventually clash with northern abolitionists to cause the great American tragedy, the Civil War.

Although they weren’t fully granted all the same basic rights as a white man, freed slaves were still very grateful to many whites. They even saw whites as “instruments in the hand of God,” for the whites not only helped them achieve freedom, but helped them to have better lives (Doc E). Not all whites were radical abolitions who wanted complete and total rights for African Americans, but some took a more moderate standpoint. They still supported the abolitionist cause, but were more fond of the American Colonization Society (Doc H). They merely wanted everyone to revert back to their old ways of life, as if slavery had never taken place. Even some slave owners weren’t completely opposed to the idea of freeing their slaves, and would let their own slaves purchase their freedom (Doc F). In a sense, this shows that slavery was dying out on its own. Freedom for all slaves seemed to be inevitable.

In such inhumane conditions, a nation managed to justify the hell that it put Blacks through. How is it humane to enslave a person yet inhumane for the death penalty to be practiced? Living on a double standard, a nation built on civil rights has managed to justify this hell. In such harsh times, the South was frowned upon for slavery. The North was hypocrites for this accusation. Slavery was justified in the South. Throughout the world, one group subjugated another. With these reasons and lies from the opinion that wants to be heard; a nation is able to justify slavery.

Have you ever tried to imagine slavery? Picture this, you and your family having a nice dinner and out of nowhere someone kicks in your front door and takes you away from your family. Scared and confused, you are constantly hit and yelled at but you don’t understand the language. You are loaded up on a ship as you set sail for a new world that you know nothing about. All without your permission. From reading and looking at documents A- E I’ve discovered that the European people had to fan out and search for someone who they could get labor off of while making them feel inferior, to display what would happen if they were to go rebel against their masters, and to follow the plan that God had for slaves.

Throughout the history of mankind, slavery has existed in one form or another. Since the times of ancient civilizations to modern era subjugations, there have forces who feel strongly of its necessity and purpose, while others have devoted themselves to seeing the ideas and acts of slavery abolished. America is not an exception to the concept of slavery and during the nation’s early history, parties from both sides have been made famous for their beliefs in the continuation or the denouncement of slavery in the United States. To understand the contrasting views of pro-slavery advocates versus abolitionists in antebellum America, a comparison of the individual positions must be made to further understand the goals of each party.

Defending slavery demonstrate the opinions and knowledge that the Southerners held concerning blacks and slavery. Paul Finkelman talks about slave legitimacy in colonial America. He argues that the first defense of slavery became visible after the end of American Revolution; it attempted to justify continuous forced labor with the Declaration of Independence. This essay aims at critically analyzing ideologies and racial theories that Southerners promoted to defend slavery, which included racial, political, legal, economic, and religious ideologies. Most specifically, this essay will discuss the legitimacy of slavery, in the earlier days, and justify this idea by using the religion and

One of the ways Southerners defended slavery was through legal means. Although the economic and religious aspects of slavery helped to directly support the moral argument of pro-slavery Southerners, the legal aspects of slavery served as visible victories and defending events in Southern philosophy. In 1831-1832, Virginia legislature debated and eventually defeated various emancipation proposals. This legislation was a turning point in the pro-slavery fight. An example of is is the Dred Scott Decision. An excellent example of the legal side to the Southern arguments and the Southern definition of popular sovereignty. With the Dred Scott Decision, the courts declared that the whole African American race had no legal standing as persons in courts also that all blacks were seen as property, and the Constitution protected property rights of the people, which includes slave owners. Moreover, pro-slavery Southerners

Even though the slavery was introduced in the early 1600s, it had no doubt that the abolitionist inaugurated the movements about the slavery actively from early 1850s. The slavery became the essential part of industry in the South more than in the North because of the large plantations and slave trades. So in the Southerners’ perspective, the slave flourished the businesses with their inexpensive labor forces in order to profit; they argued slaves were by and large a culturally inferior, child-like people who were treated well by whites and thus content with their status in life. However, Uncle Tom’s Cabin described the slavery as an evil institution that must be abolished accurately from the historians today.