Slavery Dbq Essay

During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.

His goal: to circumvent the pro-slavery senate and reinstate the Missouri Compromise through popular vote. He ensured that his argument was not seen as a personal attack on the South as a whole, but rather a necessary step towards the betterment of all in the Union. By sympathizing with the reality of the South and their dependence on slaves he tried to ensure that he was not misunderstood: “When it is said that the institution exists; and that it is very difficult to get rid of it, in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the saying” (149). He further ventured into their sympathies by acknowledging he himself would not support “[freeing] them, and [making] them politically and socially, our equals” (149). This approach also parallels the content of his argument as he avoids emotionally charged language in favor of a logical approach that clearly shows how the Missouri compromise should have never been repealed.

Lincoln was well educated over current case-law problems pertaining too slave and free states. Over one of the worst decisions ever made by the Supreme Court, the Dred Scott decision threatened to bring slavery into the North. Lincoln was stressing the fact that if something wasn’t done, slavery would no doubt trickle out of the South, and into the rest of America. While the Supreme Court was fumbling and backtracking, there was another law that brought slavery closer. The Kansas-Nebraska bill overrode previous legislation and allowed white male residents to vote on whether to permit slavery therein.

This speech served as an appeal to the citizens to stand up and be ready fight on the path to pursue the main goal of the Civil War – restoration of the Union. Lincoln used the war over slavery as a strategy that helped unite not only slaves, but also other people who strongly supported the abolition of slavery. Not only he was able to achieve the solidarity and cohesion of many citizens, but also increase their faith in the decisions and acts of the government. More people supported Lincoln because they truly believed that he wanted to protect their interests and that his decisions and strategies were essential in order to achieve the main objective of the Civil War. Thus,

Lincoln, as a President, was neither for nor against slavery. According to Professor Clavin, as a stance in his platform, Lincoln had no intentions to interfere with the states’ declared liberties, which included refraining from disturbing the institution that kept blacks in bondage. Furthermore, he ensured many that it was also his intention to abide by Fugitive Slave laws. However, Lincoln understood that it was his duty to make sure that slavery didn’t expand into new states or current free states. With documents like the Northwest Ordinance and the Compromise of 1850, Ken Burn’s mentioned that these notable features threatened the equilibrium of power as more free states were added to the nation.

James Oakes writes this book through two filters, one through Frederick Douglas, and one through Abraham Lincoln. Both fighting for the same thing, just with different motives. Throughout the book he writes an account of the transformation of these two great american leaders, and how they play off each others moves. The background of this metaphorical chess game would be the civil war over the debate of slavery in the mid-19th century America. Oakes paints both of these leaders in their own beautiful strokes: Douglass with his reforms; and Lincoln with his republican coalition.

During the Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln’s position on the practice of slavery had changed greatly from the start of the war to the end of it. He expresses his views on slavery through a variety of documents: both of his Inaugural Addresses, his letter to Horace Greeley and in the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Through these primary documents Lincoln demonstrates his initial feeling toward slavery as indifferent, for his priority was to keep the nation unified. As the war continued he stuck by his desire to keep the unity of the Union regardless of the state of slavery. By the end of the war, Lincoln called the practice of slavery an “offence” and that God “wills” the removal of its practice.

As the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln made very important decisions. One decision he had to make was on slavery. Lincoln felt that there was not much that he could do to stop slavery from occurring. In the South the economy was based off of slavery, in the North it was based on machines and industry. If he took away the South’s economy then that would be unfair. .

Lincoln characterizes the depiction of slavery in the south as having been defined as a necessity due to the institution of slavery being so engrained in everyday life and economy there. Lincoln goes on to contend that in the settling of new lands the argument for slavery being a necessity or engrained in society is a complete falsity and an abhorrent violation of humanity. Lincoln speaks about how important our constitution is and that we, as a country, would be perceived as hypocrites by other nations for the inequalities we demonstrate with slavery. He expresses his fears that allowing slavery to spread to Nebraska would further the expansion of it into other areas of the country and eventually the world. It is very enlightening to read how broad and thorough Lincoln’s insights are.

During the 1808-1861, the slavery in America is a really big issue that cause many problem that come afterward. I believed that every men and women are born equally from god. We should have our own life, liberties, and opportunities to live in a better life. However, when the slavery started to appear into our society, many controversy and conflict also come as a result of slavery. In the book, “The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in America” of Alice Dana Adams, he wrote an interesting quote from David Benedict, saying that “The existence of slavery in a country is calculated to awaken all the propensities of human nature, whether good or bad.”

African slaves were useful and valuable and they were worth a lot of money. The reason that slaves were useful and valuable was because they were used as manual labor. The southern America needed laborers to work on large farm dealing with rice, tobacco, indigo, cotton, and sugar cane. Other slaves labored as craft workers, dockworkers, and servants. Slaves in the North America region worked on small farms and others that had or didn’t have skills labored in factories and along the coast as fishermen, shipbuilders, craftsmen, and helpers and tradesmen.

The Perception of Slavery “By 1750 nearly a quarter of a million people lived as slaves in eastern north America--more than 21 percent of the colonial population,” (Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May, Ruiz, 2011). These slaves were transported to North America mainly on ships traveling on what is know as the Middle Passage. Arriving slaves would be sold at auctions to the highest bidder and would be forced to work for their new owner. The perception of slaves themselves, the labor those slaves performed, and how those slaves were treated by their owners varied greatly at the time.     Slaves were regarded as hard workers in the eyes of some people.

Slavery through the eyes of activists On December fifteenth, in eighteen sixty-five, the United States abolished slavery with the thirteenth amendment. Powerful individuals such as Frederick Douglass, David Walker, Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth, and Benjamin Banneker were people that longed to see the day that they would be free from slavery. Although these five individuals were never in contact with one another they all shared the same drive and motivation to change the way people viewed slavery for the better. These individuals accomplished their goal of changing slavery with a strong belief in god, a strong political voice and a light in them that never died.

In the minds of many Southerners, without slavery, the South and America as a whole, wouldn’t continue to be a growing economic powerhouse, and would lose its culture as a nation where White Christian, males, ruled society. For many, there was no South, no America, without slavery. History has shown time and time again that power corrupts. To hold onto their power, slave owners made sure their slaves were kept uneducated.

Fear is driving America. Fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of thinking the wrong thing, even fear of dressing the wrong way. While this fear is prevalent, how each person responds to it is not the same. One group fears so much about offending others that they seek out others to tell them what to do, what to think, and how to act. This fear is carried out to the point that they see certain freedoms as less and less important.