The Justification Of Slavery In The 19th Century

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

During the 19th century slavery was a very prominent and controversial issue between the north and the southern states. In the South, most people believed that slavery was a profitable way of life and if the slavery was to be abolished it would then affect their economy. On the hand the northern had different opinions about slavery and intended to stop it. The fact that the perception were different between the two led to a very difficult situation in resolving the issue.

People used religion as a way to justify the act of slavery. They believed that God determined people’s places in life, so slavery was considered a “misfortune” controlled by God and not a social evil (Shi and Tindall, 91). Africans were also seen as “heathens” which lead people to believe that they had the right to enslave the Africans (Shi and Tindall, 92) The Africans brought the skills they had in Africa with them which made them very desirable in the American economy. Also, there was the creation of the slave code allowed slave owners more control over their slaves activates and movements (The Virginia Slaves

Africa was once a thriving and wonderful continent filled with luxurious and wealthy kingdoms, but that had all changed when a new and appalling type of slavery was introduced. Around the 18th century, Africa became an ideal place for Europeans to trade and buy slaves from. The slave trade in Africa seemed to be manageable and somewhat peaceful before the Europeans brought in a new type of slavery. When the Europeans bought slaves from Africans, they kept them as slaves for life which were very different from how long slaves were kept in Africa. Europeans kept slaves in extremely poor conditions and treated them as if they were less than human. These actions caused a great spike in the slave trade all over the world and many

In the 1800’s, the cotton gin was invented and created an economic boom for the South, but that eventually tear the nation apart. One cotton gin used by one person can process 50 times the amount of cotton done by hand. The cotton gin made cotton processing easier and led to the use of more slave labor because the plantation owners in the South want to plant more cotton to earn more money. This event eventually causes the nation to separate based on their sectional or regional interests. The nation was divided between the North and the South. Their social and political differences contributed to the division of the nation and started the civil war, a war within a country.

The southern states were a slave society, and were known to being the way of life. It was the root to everything in the south, and southerners were very protective about it. In the south southerners “feared that without slavery’s expansion, the abolitionist faction would come to dominate national politics and an increasingly dense population of slaves would lead to bloody insurrection and race war” (The American Yawp, Chap.13), and southerners did not want to jeopardize their way of life. The south would press on the notion that racial mixing and racial wars would break out, and that blacks were a threat to white supremacy. Besides the racial fears the south would speak out on, they also stressed that slaves were property, which entitles them to their owner. People in the south also used the bible to justify slavery because it was present in the bible. The southern states believed in the ‘mudsill’ theory. James Henry Hammond speech on the ‘mudsill’ theory explained the theory. Hammond and other pro slavery southerners defined slavery as a good thing. Paternalism was another justification, to influence their belief that slavery was a caring establishment. That south argued that they took care of their slaves, and that the north did not treat their workers with such

In the nineteenth century, slavery was a huge problem between several colonies. While some thought it was needed to thrive as a country, others didn’t see the importance. The southern colonies argued that slavery was needed to support the country as a whole, providing a stable economic environment and resources that would benefit the people of those colonies. Many Southern proslavery supporters used legal, religious, and economic arguments to convince others that slavery had several benefits and should not be withdrawn from the country.    

Slaves were used to cultivate cotton, the South’s main export. (Doc 2) The slaves were more efficient and required less pay than their white counterpart. This caused the South to be more in favor of using slaves, especially when expanding to western territories because they could save money. Some northerners claimed that the conditions that slaves lived in were cruel and brutal, but the South Carolina governor argued in 1835 that “English [factory] operatives” and “millions of paupers” had it worse than southern slaves. (Doc 1) Southern farmers heavily invested in slaves because of their ability to work hard and their inexpense. They did not feel that slavery was unlawful or immoral, because they felt that the black skin color made them inferior to

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.

During the 19th century, so known “peculiar institution” of slavery dominated labor systems of the American South, also dominated most production in the US and led to a boost of the economy of the New Republic. By the 1850 's, US had become a country segregated into two regional identities, known as the Slave South and the Free North. While the South maintained a pro-slavery identity that supported and protected the expansion of slavery westward, the North largely held abolitionist views and opposed the slavery’s westward expansion. Until the 1850 's the nation uncertainly balanced the slavery subject between the two opponents. However, the acquisition of the Louisiana territories in 1803 by the Jefferson administration doubled the size of the US and the victory in the Mexican-American War extended the territory to the Pacific which quadrupled the area of the US. Ultimately, the territorial expansion led to the spread of slavery. In this essay, I will describe some of the reasons for the expansion of slavery including its influence in national politics, and consequences such as political debates and crises of 1850’s.

Defenders of slavery noted that in the Bible, Abraham had slaves. They point to the Ten Commandments, noting that "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, ... nor his manservant, nor his maidservant." (ushistory) They used tactics like the anti-slavery lobby. They wrote pamphlets and literature as well. Their literature cited that the slave trade was beneficial to Africans. They argued that African societies and cultures were unskilled, uneducated and savage. (AbolotionProject) The anti-slavery lobby argued in response to this that the African people were not inferior to them, and argued that all should be treated equal. The pro-slave lobby argued that ending slavery suddenly would kill the southern economy. They argued that their crops would go bad, or dry up. However, the anti-slavery lobby felt like any economic suffering they faced would be well deserved for their enslavement of human beings.

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

In the early years of the 19th century, slavery was more than ever turning into a sectional concern, such that the nation had essentially become divided along regional lines. Based on economic or moral reasoning, people of the Northern states were increasingly in support of opposition to slavery, all the while Southerners became united to defend the institution of slavery. Brought on by profound changes including regional differences in the pattern of slavery in the upper and lower South, as well as the movement of abolitionism in the North, slavery in America had transformed from an issue of politics into a moral campaign during the period of 1815-1860, ultimately polarizing the North and the South to the point in which threats of a Southern disunion would mark the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 (Goldfield et. al, The American Journey, p. 281).

American’s who live in the 21st century know that slavery is terrible and also a touchy subject. But Americans used to rely heavily on slavery, how we perceive slavery in today’s society can either be the same or different from how others thought of slavery living within mid 1800s. People who resided in the northern region of American found slavery wrong as we do today. Americans who lived farther south however liked, and relied on slavery. In today’s world, we Americans almost all agree that slavery had been a negative factor of our country. But within the 1840s and 1870s, Americans had been divided by slavery. People that were against slavery created the union as the pro slavery citizens created the confederates. Today, we can see why people of the mid 19th century either supported slavery or rebelled against it by reviewing sources.

Slave owners quoted the bible to justify their actions. For example, Leviticus 25:44–46 which stated “you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you. You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.” Slave owners believed that all they need was the word of God to justify the abuse and dehumanization of blacks. But the bible also says we shouldn’t do others so depending on what you want to live by the bible can be positive as well as negative depending on our own