Slavery Was A Necessary For America

While reading “The Crito” By Plato and Martin Luther King’s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” I will use these two pieces of literature as a spring board to answer whether it is moral to break a law that you consider unjust. I will start first by analyzing Plato’s dialogue “The Crito”. The conversation takes place in a prison; this is where Socrates is awaiting his execution, and will be serving out the last days of his life. Socrates is visited by a long time follower and student, Crito. His reason for visiting is as simple as persuading Socrates to escape. He throws argument after argument at Socrates, and hoping that he will be able to convince his friend that he should flee the city. Socrates could not break the law just because he believed

Even though slavery is supposed to be gone in the North it is still here. In a way the American economy is still reliant on the institution of slavery. The cotton being produced in the south is being transported up here so the factory workers can make goods. The argument to abolish slavery in America didn’t stop just because the Northern states were free. People now wanted the same freedom for those slaves who lived in the South. One person in particular, Fredrick Douglas, who was a former slave himself was one of the most outspoken abolitionist. He was so important in the movement because he showed that black people could be productive member of society. Not just dumb savages as a lot of white people seemed to believe. Given the chance to

This angered the Union, consequently making the issue bigger. Those in the North who had never seen a slave and didn’t particularly care about the topic, educated themselves more because of such tension over whether the Confederates were allowed to even leave or not. Many got their arguments in order; slaveholding was regressive when compared to the advances the North was making. Essentially, slavery was inefficient and made little sense. Another argument was that slavery was a sin; this view would be the reason why many joined the Civil War. Though it was overall agreeable for Northerners during the Civil War that slavery was an immoral practice. It degraded humans to animals that could be bought and sold for a price, it tore families apart, forced people, even children, to work all day and whenever called upon while living in poor conditions. But perhaps the most important bit to this argument, was that in the Declaration of Independence, it was clearly written, “all men are created equal”. If all men are equal, then why did the white man own the black man? When did the very piece of paper that gave America a meaning to patriotism suddenly become irrelevant when talking about the issues that made us a free country? Ignorance is bliss, but at this time in history, it was bliss no

One effect on the issue was that the economy in the south was fueled by cultivation of staple crops that required slaves for labor. In the South slavery wasn’t thought as an evil as in the North because to the Southerners defense the slaves in their opinion were treaty in contrast to workers in England and peasants that were Irish, also the end of slave trade brought higher value to the slaves causing their owners to be less harsh because they were more valuable. Although slavery fueled the economy in the South it was not the same in the North therefore there was no complete dire need for slavery, and although the slaves probably weren’t treated as bad as the north had thought they still saw it as

When referring to the days of slavery, it is often assumed that the south was the sole force behind its continuance. However there were many factors which lead southerners as well as some in the north to quietly accept slavery as a good thing. John Calhoun declared in 1837 “Many in the South once believed that [slavery] was a moral and political evil…That folly and delusion are gone; we see it now in its true light, and regard it as the most safe and stable basis for free institutions in the world” (p. 345). This statement was justified by various reasons. There was the fundamental belief that Africans were inferior to their white counterparts. Many saw the slave population as a labor force that

There is still much to say about slavery and a lot of things to recall from what actually happened in the Civil War. It is common knowledge that slavery was the one thing that had been eliminated with the end of the Civil War. Despite the potential and real benefits of slavery to the Southern states, the Northern states saw the Slave trade and slavery itself as a cruel and inhumane act. The Civil War was also a very big turning point in United States of America's history because it had ended slavery, led to military innovations, and most importantly it had brought the North and the South together into the Union. In 1861, the Civil War began in America.

He also explains to Crito that the citizen is bound to the laws like a child is bound to a parent, and so to go against the laws would be like striking a parent. Rather than simply break the laws and escape, Socrates should try to persuade the laws to let him go. These laws present the citizen's duty to them in the form of a kind of social contract. By choosing to live in Athens, a citizen is endorsing the laws, and is willing to follower by them. Therefore, if he was to break from prison now, having so consistently validated the social contract, he would be making himself an outlaw who would not be welcome in any other civilized state for the rest of his life. Furthermore when he dies, he will be harshly judged in the underworld for behaving unjustly toward his city's laws. In this way, Socrates chooses not to attempt escape but he dies as a martyr, not for himself, but for his city and its system of justice.

It did not take too much longer for the other two states to outlaw slavery shortly after the revolution. In Southern States, the revolution seemed to have opposite effects. During the time of the American Revolution, ideas of emancipation for slaves were floating around. "White folk" is the South feared slaves being equal or even close to themselves; they also feared rebellion among their workers. "They feared that without slaves, it would be necessary to recruit a servile white workforce in the South, and that the resulting inequalities would jeopardize the survival of liberties" (Brinkley 120). This fear is what pushed white southerns to reinforce their authority over slaves. They executed men who planned slave rebellions such as Thomas Jeremiah. The reason that slavery existed was human nature, slavery was nothing

Thomas Jefferson said “ [b]igotry is a disease of ignorance, or morbid minds… Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both” (Jefferson). He grew up on a plantation where his family kept slaves, but later took steps to opposing slavery while being in a position of power. This quote was when Thomas Jefferson had talked about how people who think lower of another race or culture, can have his/her views changed without violence or a war. Violence was not necessary to end slavery because many pieces of literature brought light to issues without violence, Lincoln did not believe the war was meant to end slavery, and aggressive actions from the South started the Civil War.

Slavery was one of the main factors sending the north and south into a raging war. There was more to than just slavery being abolished. Slavery being abolished to the south was like the government was taking abilities and money from them. Thus making them feel as if they were being done wrong. Also a majority of southerners were plantation owners needing slaves to work the farms so they could earn

Many people believe that the main reason for the Civil War was to end slavery.

“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.” - OSCAR WILDE, The Soul of Man Under Socialism

Once the Convention heard all the arguments and voted on all the clauses contained about slavery, the delegates concluded that slavery should still be legal. There are a few reasons why they decided this. The first major reason was that the southern economy depended on slavery to operate their plantations. If slavery were abolished, then they would lose their entire work force and would be forced to find white people to work for them instead. This is a major problem, however, since poor white people felt that they were a step up from the African slaves. They didn't want to be doing a job that was normally done by the blacks (It's important to realize that most southern people at that time felt that blacks were an inferior race, and should be treated as such). Many supporters of slavery, such as Charles Pinckney even argued that "In all ages, one-half of mankind

In his third premise, Socrates argues that men must do what they believe to be right, and keep their agreements. Socrates argues that he is under an agreement with the state to abide by their laws, and that escaping would be breaking their agreement, thereby knowingly doing wrong. He concludes that if he were to escape he would be breaking agreements and purposely doing wrong, and therefore would not be living justly and honorably, and not be living a good life. For these reasons he decides that he can not escape jail.

In Plato’s Crito, Socrates talks about his obligations to follow the law. Although Socrates understands that the Athenian democracy has committed an unjust action by sentencing him to death, he is unwilling to escape with Crito. He understands that an injustice should not be answered with injustice, but there are times when one should question the law. In Socrates’ Defense and the Crito, Plato discusses when one ought to follow the law and when ought to not follow the law. One not only has the obligations to follow the law, but they are also obliged to break the law if it is unjust because it will then improve The Law.