Slide 2. Power point… Slavery differed in the North and the South
The debate about slavery in the US
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POWER POINT 7
| From Africa to the USA
The debate about slavery in the US The proponents of slavery argued that: ➢Slavery was a "necessary evil”, emancipation of black slaves would have more harmful social and economic consequences than slavery. -The French writer and traveler Alexis de Tocqueville expressed opposition to slavery, but he felt that a multiracial society without slavery was untenable. -Thomas Jefferson, 1820: ‘Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.’ ➢Slavery was a “positive good” based on 4 main arguments: -needed to build the rest of society as one group must accomplish all the menial duties, because without them the leaders in society could not progress (Calhoun, Hammond). -Slaves better off than the free laborers. Hammond: "The difference ... is, that our slaves are hired for life and well compensated; there is no starvation, no begging, no want of employment," while those in the North had to search for employment. -Conflicts between capital and labor are avoided -White superiority to justify slavery (Fitzhugh). The abolitionists: -Moral concerns -Religion: the Puritan influence on slavery was strong at the time of the American Revolution and up until the Civil War. Of America's first seven presidents, the two who did not own slaves, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, came from Puritan New England. They were wealthy enough to own slaves, but they chose not to because they believed that it was morally wrong to do so. -The abolition of slavery did not necessarily mean that existing slaves became free. In some states they were forced to remain with their former owners as indentured servants. -Still, in the 1830 census, the only state with no slaves was Vermont. -Most Northern states passed legislation for gradual abolition. -Slavery was never prohibited in either state until ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. -None of the Southern states abolished slavery before 1865, but it was not unusual for individual slaveholders in the South to free numerous slaves, often citing revolutionary ideals, in their wills. Download 0.83 Mb. Share with your friends:
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