According to Madison’s notes it’s because “the delegates thought it wrong to admit in the constitution the idea that there could be property in men (Spalding, pg. 463). Washington a slave holder was even against slavery, he wrote “there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery” (Spalding, pg. 461). America was not the only country of course that practiced slavery; there were many countries that had practiced slavery before.
Southern Christianity and Slavery One of the many character flaws of being human is trying to find justification in the wrong doings of either our self or our family members. In the United States, this trait is seen mostly in Southern Conservative Christian families, but during the years surrounding the Civil War the sense of justification for why slavery was not as horrendous as the Northerners had thought was that the followers of Christ, “held slaves without the disapproval of God.” In the early years of Christianity slavery was a sign of economic stature in the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. The Bible uses the Hebrew term “ebed” to refer to slavery, but that is not exactly correct. “Ebed” refers more to servant or hired worker than a slave. Biblically slavery is only referred to in the Old Testament through the story of Ham, but historically slavery was an integral part of ancient commerce, taxation, and temple religion.
There were eleven States of America that were slave states, as they held slaves in a large ratio; they named themselves as “Confederates of America” while the other side was named as “The Union” (Valley of the shadow). The Union was comprised of all the Free States of America in which, there were no trend of keeping slaves and also there was no slave trade along with some slave states. According to the Union, the slave States that were fighting against the abolition of slavery were the Rebels, as they challenged the authority and equality of human beings. According to James B. Griffin, he was not ready to change his life style because of the subjugation of North. The officer informs through his correspondence with his wife through his letters that he has a number of slaves that are appointed do various chores related to plantation and household (McArthur and Burton 1996).
Throughout the Narrative, Douglass shows how the use of ignorance was employed against the slaves. Using this theme, we will focus on how they kept the slaves from learning, and how Douglass felt after trying to learn. To start, at the time Douglass was writing, many people believed that slavery was a natural state of being. They believed that blacks were inferior to whites and they should be kept as workers. From birth, slave owners started the tactic of keeping slaves oblivious to the world around them by keeping basic facts like their birth date or paternity away from them.
He also believed that slavery was sinful and against some religions. He was the prime mover in the abolition of slavery in England. In his article Thomas Thompson is trying to prove “that the African trade for negro slaves is consistent with the principles of humanity and revealed religion”. But Sharp argues that it’s against law of nature, humanity, moral laws and natural Equality. For example Sharp revealed that the Jewish religion which says they should love others as themselves still owned slaves.
Along with a team of Quakers and Anglicans Wilberforce led them tirelessly through a struggle, long and challenging; their prize would be to see an end to the buying and selling of humans. The slave trade in the British Empire was abolished in 1807 and their slaves were eventually set free. Although slavery does still exist today, Wilberforce did much in opening the eyes of the human race to stir public views against the slave trade. William Wilberforce was inspired by the example of Jesus Christ Himself in Isaiah 61:1, Wilberforce also wanted to help the broken-hearted, and announce freedom to the captives. (The Reformation Society 2006, ¶ 14).
As America had a Federal system of government it was possible for laws to differ significantly between states as each state had its own government. The Thirteenth Amendment to the constitution, made slavery illegal, the 25 years after the civil war were efforts were made to make America a fairer society and to rebuild the southern states. This period was known as Reconstruction. In this period, two additional constitutional amendments were delivered in an attempt to give African Americas the rights they had been denied for so long. The fourteenth Amendment (1868) gave citizenship rights to all people bon in the USA and was an attempt to assure the rights of previous slaves.
Historically, slavery was a mixture of debt-slavery, punishment for crime, the enslavement of prisoners of war, child abandonment, and the birth of slave children to slaves. The Greeks believed in the theory of natural slavery, this meant that some men are slaves by nature. Slavery in the United States was an important part of the plantation economies. There are many reasons to support slavery including biblical, historical, sociological, economic, constitutional and political. Pro-Slavery Arguments Biblical Nowhere in the Bible does it express even mild disapproval of enslaving human beings by God.
My first example on how deleting our humane feelings caused harm is Document 7 by James Ramsay called, “Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies”. The article speaks about the punishments done to slaves for misbehaving in their eyes and committing mistakes. The white men would beat them with sticks, breaking their bones, chain around their necks, etc. All this was done to cause fear within them. All these people thought since Africans are slaves, it’s okay to treat them as beasts.
In the south the Union wanted slavery and in the North they were against slavery. Before the Civil War the United States had many acts to protect slavery. They stopped the slave trade and importation of slaves under military order. Right after the civil war the 13th amendment was passed, many changes were made. The amendment gave African Americans more rights, even though it gave them more rights they had a lot of other issues.