Slavery and Abolition

In 1820, states such as South Carolina were still pro-slavery and they instituted consequences to anyone that had anti-slavery material in South Carolina Abolition spread far and wide, changing everyone’s mindset of sl... ... middle of paper ... ...how slavery is cruel and that freedom is possible. Political and democratic views of this document would be Henry Clay’s presidency and how he for slavery while Richardson was aimed at liberty. Religious and moral views of this document would be how Richardson discussed his life as a slave and how individuals that become slaves develop a different mindset. Traditionally, Richardson explains what slavery is and how harsh it was back then for African Americans. Common sense that was analyzed by Richardson would be how he understood the freedom of slavery and understanding that there is more you can achieve if you’re willing to take risks.

Fredrick Douglass, through his autobiography of Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, provides an insight into the practices of slavery in the United States. This paper discusses the issue of slavery in the United States through analysis of the life of Fredrick Douglass as a slave and a freeman. The thesis of this paper argues that the practice of slavery in the United States was antithetical to the provisions of the United States’ Declaration of Independence. As well, the paper argues that even though slavery was mostly practiced in the south, the northern states highly encouraged and helped the southerners to perpetrate the human rights’ abuses to the slaves. This paper argues the thesis using the life and time of Fredrick Douglass as a slave and as an abolitionist campaigner.

His writings explain the effects of slavery and the struggle to overthrow it, as well as the condition of free blacks both before and after the Emancipation, the politics of the Civil War, and the failed promise of Reconstruction the followed. As a child, Douglass was taught how to read by Sophia Auid. She was drawn to the questioning mind of Douglass. Her husband however, put a stop to this stating the teaching of Douglass to read would, "Spoil the best nigger in the world... forever unfitting him for the duties of a slave." As a slave child some experiences were hard to describe.

The slaves escaped from their masters, and worked with each other on ways to overthrow slavery by becoming abolitionists. After escaping, they would assemble together, and educate each other on how to stop slavery, and being used by the white masters. Some slaves were able to escape slavery permanently by going to the North where there was no slavery. Another most common form of resistance slaves used was known as day-to-day resistance. This was small acts rebellion whereby they could fail ... ... middle of paper ...

For reasons that hold quite a bit of transparency and with the evidence from our ancestral history, the emerging of the social differences that divided the country and the war that ensued therein seems to be inevitable. I. Origins of European Slave Trade and Its Impact When sifted through all of the political differences of the North and South by the nineteenth century, the core issue is left exposed at the premise of slavery. The core conflict of the war itself revolved around its existence. Fundamentally, the Union of the North lead by Abraham Lincoln was for the abolishment of slavery, while the South not only supported it, but relied on i... ... middle of paper ... ...cs/justifications.shtml.

Slavery was a great problem before the civil war. The slaves were treated poorly and put into harsh living conditions. After many years of scalding hot, long days in the sun, and many more years of attempted escape, the slaves truly needed a savior to earn their rights as human beings. Many slave owners converted to Christianity and began to view the slave trade as the brutal scene it was. These slave owners along with many other people who stood for equality turned into abolitionists, and tried to get rid of the slave trade.

As many of the northern states began to change their policies on the enslavement of Africans, the South became aware that those areas might become a haven of refuge for runaway slaves. In an effort to appease southern slave owners, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1793, which allowed slave owners to apprehend fugitives in any state or territory and only required them to apply for custody from a circuit or district judge. Due to the act’s ambiguity and lack of uniform enforcement, slaveholders became increasingly agitated. The growing movement of abolitionists to smuggle and rescue fugitive slaves compounded this frustration; the best know organization being the Underground Railroad. One of the larger abolitionist groups, The American Anti-Slavery Society, opposed the Acts of 1793, claiming them to be unconstitutional.

He further explains why the anti slavery movement for women’s rights and the emergence of the Civil War were important. Later on, the author discusses how the Civil War was caused by abolitionists and how they were termed as irrelevant. The book explores how the abolitionists movements struggled to end slavery which led to the emergence of the Civil War. The major contention of this book is that it addresses how the abolitionist movement helped end slavery and caused the emergence of the Civil War. The anti-slavery movement was very active in the United States and was fighting for the rights of the African Americans who were slaves in the land of America.

Slavery has brought about a lot of controversy and stirred emotions even in today's society which has left a big impact on the people. In the documents, Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves (1733-72), Lydia Maria Child's Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation (1833) and Lydia Maria Child's Prejudices against people of color (1836), describes the life of slaves along with the different views of the North and the South. Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property and are forced to work, even in conditions where it can become unbearable and where the government has a say in the slaves lives and although slavery has been abolished, the results from slavery can never be erased. In the south, slavery was a oppression of the government. There were "southern defenders of slavery taunted abolitionists by arguing that wage workers in the North and England were equally slaves" and that "women were equally" treated unjustly, which means slavery was a way for the government to take advantage of their power (Balkin and Levison 1463).

In order to fully understand why revising history to suit the victor’s one must look at the accounts of those defeated (if they happen to survive the revision). In looking at the issues surrounding slavery we can compare a few accounts from escaped and free slaves to that of a couple prominent southern whites who attempted to justify and support slavery. The accounts of the slaves are graphic and at times disturbing but help to paint a clearer picture of the historic events at the time. Unfortunately written accounts of the ordeals that the slaves have gone through are rather rare. Many slaves after all were prevented from learning how to read and write.