Slavery

Slavery has always proven to be a sensitive topic, never more so than it was in the years leading up to the American civil war. The subject had its proponents and opponents, each pushing their agenda. While there is a general misconception that those who opposed slavery did so on the basis of moral grounds, this was not the sole reason why. As Hinton Rowan Helper (1857) pointed out, the position held by him, among other abolitionists, in their opposition to slavery was not so much in its moral and religious aspects, but in its unprofitability. Fredrick Douglas (1850) best summarized the question of the inhumanity of slavery when he accurately observed that absolute and arbitrary power can never be maintained by one man over the body and soul of another man, without brutal chastisement and enormous cruelty.

Proponents for slavery argued that it improved agriculture and enhanced production. They justified their treatment of blacks by stating that they were inferior to the white men. Some went as far as using religious scripture to advance their point. To safeguard this interest, it was necessary that balance in congress be maintained. Therefore, the Southern states were opposed to the restrictions on slavery placed upon new members to the union. Those opposed to slavery opposed each of these in turn, pointing out the fallacies found therein. On the claim that slavery improved agriculture, Helper went on to use the relatively new discipline of Statistics to prove that the Northern states were more productive than Southern ones even without slave labor. Helper went on to state he believe slavery a most expensive and unprofitable institution.

Lucertia Mott (1849) opposed slavery on religious and moral grounds. She used scripture to argue against slavery, urging that the mission of the gospel is “to bind up the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive.” William Wilson (1848) on the other hand thought slavery as being injurious to the individual, whether he is the master or the slave, who is unhappily a party to it. He thought slavery injurious to the souls, the body and to the usefulness and the happiness of both. Other opponents of slavery were the Freesoilers (1848) who argued against it based on provisions in law. Specifically, the Freespoilers relied on the Proviso of Jefferson that prohibited existence of Slavery after 1800 in all the territories of the United States, Southern and Northern.

Around 1854, conscience Whigs, democrats opposed to slavery and the Freesoilers started the Republican Party. The common ground between them was their opposition to slavery, though each group had different reasons. It was the election of Abraham Lincoln, a Republican and a public critic of slavery, as president that marked the advent of the American Civil war. Lincoln had given his “A House Divided” speech in which he cautioned against the danger of slavery based disunion in the United States of America. His view was, the United States would adopt slavery or do away with it altogether in all states. His election, especially in light of his views on slavery began the calls by the Southern states for secession, and as a result the American Civil War.