The Abolition Of Slavery

Slavery in the early United States was widespread and a cheap means of labor for the owners of plantations and it was also a major influence in the shaping of the United States. The United States in the three decades before the Civil War was flooded with various reform movements. Inspired by the religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening, these reform movements sought to improve or perfect human society by eliminating any evil the reformers believed was an affront to the moral and spiritual health of the nation. One of the key issues reformers attacked was the abolition of slavery. As late as the mid-1700s, most organized Western religions or denominations had failed to discourage their congregations from practicing slavery. Slaves

The issue of slavery was left out of the Declaration of Independence for a reason, but why? We’ll also go over what the abolition of slavery is. We will find out whether abolition was present in the colonies during the American Revolution. And we will discuss how Lord Dunmore’s 1775 Proclamation influenced the Declaration of Independence. Those are the topics we will be covering today.

Slavery is any system in which principles of property law are applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy, and sell other individuals, as a form of property. Slavery was very active in the southern parts of America, while the north trailed away having antislavery laws. Many people began to oppose slavery after events such as the abolition of slavery and the fact that all men are created equal.

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in an effort to the end Civil War by taking away the workforce of the South and preventing the intervention of foreign powers. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in the South, it was a major step in the direction of the abolishment of slavery. Abolitionists in Congress began to push for a more permanent law that abolished slavery everywhere in the United States. On December 6,1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified. It illegalized the institution of slavery in the United States. Thousands of slaves were freed from their masters and allowed to live the lives they wanted for the first time since the were captured. The newly freed slaves

The first slaves were brought to America in the early 1700s, before the country even had its independence. The slave population continued to grow until ultimately slavery was abolished after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, during the civil war. However, this fight towards abolishment of slavery did not come to be overnight. It took years of dispute and fighting for this conclusion to ultimately come to be. There were many different tactics abolitionists used as they strove to end slavery.

    Throughout the years there have been many great advancements to break down the barriers between the races. However, the past is a reoccurring issue that draws away from each step forward. Black people today are still crying for freedom because they still feel that are being oppressed by the white nation. Many people in the black community have begun to use the terrible events of the past as leverage against the white community. As race relations becomes  more prevalent issue, the government has tried to take steps to to find a balance between the two races.  The whites are now finding themselves to be the ones who are negatively affected by the color of their skin. History has begun to haunt the people of today. They are having to live with the lasting effects of those people and events

Lasting six years, the American Revolution resulted in a significant amount of lives being lost, not only to war but to disease and infection as well (Schultz, 2013). Division among the colonists was felt between those loyal to the cause and the rebels, as well as, the ones that were indifferent to either (Schultz, 2013). Disruptions of daily life resulted because soldiers were away from their homes and families for extended amounts of time and women managed the households, families, and civic life (Schultz, 2013). Additionally, slaves were unsure of their futures because there were no signs of them obtaining freedom (Schultz, 2013).

Slavery in America began during the early 17th century and followed with the abolitionist movement in the late 1800’s. This movement created a continental divide between southern and northern states. In the south, there are the Southern Democrats who supported the idea of slavery and believed that the institution was necessary for the survival of the south. Southern Democrats also argued that the North turned their back on the “real” America. While the northern states were composed of Republicans, such as Abraham Lincoln, whose efforts to exterminate slavery eventually caused the absorption of anti-slavery Whigs and most of the Know-Nothing party. In the years that followed, slavery fueled the fire that started the Civil War.

The Civil War may have ended, yet that did not seem to halt the blatant racism that continued to linger throughout the country during the Reconstruction period. The Thirteenth Amendment was a great step forward for this country, unfortunately not every southern individual felt this way. Freed slaves faced a multitude of problems ahead; even if people believed in abolishing slavery, that did not necessarily mean they agreed with freed people possessing the same civil rights as themselves. Abolishing slavery was the first step, but dealing with the social, economic, and political racism was to be dealt with in the years to come.

The New England region was very tight knit, due to the geography. The nineteenth century crusade, that supported abolishing slavery, partially originated from the New England and puritan morals. New England’s extreme weather made agriculture difficult, because of this slavery could not effectively exist on the farms. The South, however, had beneficial weather conditions and geographical placement. As a result, the South had large plantains and many slaves to work on these plantains. The middle states had excellent farming conditions, but relatively few slaves. New England was mostly against slavery, the middle colonies weren’t against it, but it wasn’t widely accepted, and finally the south fully supported slavery. The contradictory views

Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats attempted to cure their complete opposition on the regulation of slavery by using federal power to coerce an end to the feud, yet the movement increased tension between the divided nation. By invoking both legislative and judicial power, politicians used laws which included slave codes and freedom laws as well as court decisions like Dred Scott v Sandford (1875) to convince or force the population into acceptance of stances on slavery. Each party viewed their tactics and ideas to be righteous, and though they intended for positive results, national outrage answered the governmental movement.

When the American Revolution began and the country sought to remove Britain from themselves, they produced several differences in the rights of man. The major issue dealt around will individuals have freedom of religion and conscience or will the state set up a national church (Sehat 2011, 15-16). The first major point that Sehat brings up in his books is that certain individuals were worried when disestablishment of the national church happened, what is the basis to provide morals for the general society. Colonial leaders at the time thought when individuals were free to choose that those individuals will choose to be immoral and the society at large will be put in danger (Sehat 2011, 16). Certain individuals saw that religion could be used

When you think of the abolishment of slavery, what is the first place you think of? Was it the United States? Maybe even Africa? Although these two regions are well discussed in the history of slavery there are for more areas that were involved. For the purpose of this paper, the two regions that have been chosen are the United States and Haiti. The United States was colonized by a mix of different races. The most predominant were English settlers and Haiti was predominantly French settlers. These two regions bought, sold and traded slaves by the use of the Transatlantic Slave trade. However, both the United States and Haiti played a significant role in the abolishment of slavery.

In order to talk about the abolition of slavery it is necessary to know the meaning of slavery and abolition. According to Dictionary.com the word “Slave means: a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person and abolition means: “the legal prohibition and ending of slavery, especially of slavery of blacks in the U.S.” Now that both words were defined we can begin. “It is said that the first African slaves were brought to the United States near the English Colony back in 1619 to Jamestown, Virginia by some Dutch traders. If we were to discuss the origins of slavery we would have to start not in the United States, but we would have to shift gears to Brazil were they were the biggest slaves traders of all times” according to History.net

Even though the Civil Rights was so long ago, some still question whether our world has overcome the problems faced back then. The U.S. has changed significantly since the Civil Rights in both positive and negative ways, but the majority has clearly been positive. Obviously, there are still improvements we need to make as a society to banish all racism. However, if we work together as a whole, we will definitely be able to achieve these goals.