Slavery Argumentative Essay

Social injustices are an unfortunate part of the world that we live in; it seems that when one injustice has been eliminated, another in this case human trafficking comes to light. Around 1807, the transatlantic slave trade was abolished however, a new type of slavery, human trafficking, is taking over as the slavery of the 21st century. Unlike the transatlantic or ancient slave trade as it is referred because modern day slavery is not limited to only a few countries. This injustice is widespread; it is happening trans continentally (Elechi & Ngwe, 2012).

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue of African slavery in America in the antebellum by late eighteenth century and before the antebellum crisis as discussed in Paul Finkelman’s book: Defending Slavery.

Slave as defined by the dictionary means that a slave is a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant. So why is it that every time you go and visit a historical place like the Hampton-Preston mansion in Columbia South Carolina, the Lowell Factory where the mill girls work in Massachusetts or the Old town of Williamsburg Virginia they only talk about the good things that happened at these place, like such things as who owned them, who worked them, how they were financed and what life was like for the owners. They never talk about the background information of the lower level people like the slaves or servants who helped take care and run these places behind the scenes.

“Organized and championed by Henry Clay, the Compromise of 1850 was a series of laws and policy enactments that formed a comprehensive new national policy toward issues of slavery and westward expansion. At the core of this debate was the question of whether or not frontier territories should join the Union as new slave states. Southern states preferred an expansion of slavery into new territories, whereas northern states argued in favor of abolishing slavery in any new states. The Compromise of 1850 determined that new states would be slave-free, and the slave trade was also abolished in Washington, D.C. In exchange for these concessions, southern states received an amendment to the Fugitive Slave Act, which forced northern states to take more aggressive measures to return escaped slaves into the southern states from which they departed.

BFirst the Southern Democrats thought that slavery should be allowed in the new lands and states while the North thought that if slavery was allowed in the new states and territories that the wealthy plantation owners would buy all the land. Other issues included  fear of  the small farmers not being able to purchase land in the land new states and not wanting to live with the African American population.  First, the Wilmot Proviso was an agreement to keep slavery out of the new territories so white poor farmers could acquire and farm land; although  it passed the house, the Senate would not pass the Wilmot Proviso. Next, during the presidential election of  1848, popular sovereignty was suggested by Lewis Cass. Popular sovereignty was to allow the settlers to decide whether they wanted slavery or not.

As the idea of Manifest Destiny spread the country westward and new states joined the union, the disagreement over slavery became more and more heated. With each new state, came new congressman, new lawmakers. Northern states, free states, wanted the new states to have no slavery. The Southern states, pro-slavery states, wanted to extend slavery into the new states.

Mounting tensions between northerners and southerners over newly acquired territories in the west were very alarming to politicians in 1850. The core of this debate was the question of whether or not frontier territories should join the Union as new slave states. The North wanted to keep the slavery out of the new territories while the south wanted slavery to be instilled in the newly acquired states. A couple of compromises were tried to ease the tensions between the North and the south like the Wilmo provoso

During the early 1800s, the United States was a new county and constantly expanded westward. Each time the borders of the country changed, the issue of slavery occurred because the north and the south disputed over whether the territory was a free state or a slave state. (Background) Henry Clay, a Kentucky congressman, created the Missouri Compromise addressed the issue of admitting states into the country as either a free or a slave state. However, this dilemma still persisted, therefore, the Compromise of 1850, involving congressmen Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Stephen A. Douglass, and John C. Calhoun, replaced the Missouri Compromise. This issue incited fear, conflict, and danger into the minds of southerners and northerners. In the 1800s, slavery economically effected everyone’s lives and hence, the northerners feared the expansion of slavery threatened their economic well-being, whereas, the southerners feared the termination of slavery endangered their economic status.

In the period that Constitution Convention was holding, slavery was existed almost every state in the United States. Founding fathers at the Constitution Convention did not resolve the issues about slavery totally. Nowadays, there are many argues surrounding the Constitution and slavery also. There have two sides to talk about the Constitution and slavery, they are how the Constitution did or did not address slavery.

Slavery, especially in America, has been an age old topic of riveting discussions. Specialist and other researchers have been digging around for countless years looking for answers to the many questions that such an activity provided. They have looked into the economics of slavery, slave demography, slave culture, slave treatment, and slave-owner ideology (p. ix). Despite slavery being a global issue, the main focus is always on American slavery. Peter Kolchin effectively illustrates in his book, American Slavery how slavery evolved alongside of historical controversy, the slave-owner relationship, how slavery changed over time, and how America compared to other slave nations around the world.

Slavery is one of the most controversial points in American history and in these documents, we are able to see the different viewpoints from three different men. The first viewpoint we get to see from is John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of State at the time. In his writing, it is obvious to see that he is in favor of slavery based on his thought of how it was a key factor is the prosperity of the states. He mentions, due to this belief, that it is in the best interest of the state and the state alone to regulate whether they have slavery or not. During this time period, it is quite apparent that the whites held themselves in a much higher regard over the black population. They thought they were uncivilized, idiotic, and brutish people. It was obvious that they felt there was never going to be equality between them. This belief of his just reinforced that thought that many people in America thought they were the superior race.

Ever since the beginning of time, black people have always been looked upon as the inferior race compared to the ever powerful white male. Since all these acquisitions have been made about these people, the whites have taken it under their power that they can own these human beings and control them to in any way they please because they believe it is their constitutional right to property. However, the white male has taken it to an extreme saying that another human being is their property to control. When the Founding Fathers were drafting the US Constitution, they knew the debate over slavery was a critical flaw in their newly founded nation, but chose not to abolish nor allow of this sinful act knowing that it would not be approved by the southern states. When Frederick Douglass and Jefferson Davis wrote their documents about slavery they both proved their by by saying the constitution either said it was okay or it was implied that it was constitutionally approved.

One of the most historic moments of the world, Slavery. Slavery caused our world to lose justice and fairness, and it caused this to happen because blacks were not accepted as equal. Once this happened whites all over the world did not accept them as an equal person, and after they started becoming slaves for whites whites started to dislike them more. Because of them not being accepted as equal that interferes with the meaning of justice, which involves respect for other people.

During the 17th to 19th centuries, the atrocious act of enslaving another race for free labor took place in the United States. Upwards of 15 million Africans were captured and forced into slavery, with half a million of them coming into North America where the slave population rapidly reproduced over the years. Africans suffered immoral and inhumane treatment on the passage to the Americas, but the brutality only increased when arriving to the United States. Slaves were forced to work long hours with little rations and constant physical beatings. By the 1800s, the barbaric act of slavery evolved into an established and accepted institution in American society (McKinnon). Advocates of slavery used racial, legal, religious, and economic justifications

During this time the most of the North states had abolished slavery and were looking to expand west, but they didn’t want the Ideology of slavery expanding west. Although, the south’s view of slavery was different and they were also pursuing western expansion, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, became the first debate over allowing the spread of slavery into new land to the west. This compromise helped to maintain an equal balance until Texas was annexed in 1845 as a slave state. All this would lead to war with Mexico, and then the American Civil War The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, was the end of the Mexican American war, but the United States also took half a million square acres. This would create tension between the North and the South regarding