Slavery and the Civil War

Slavery and the Civil War in the United States: The Implications

Slavery in the United States is not only one of the darkest moments in history, but also one of the most significant. Because of slavery, monumental event in American history, such as the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement helped change the United States into a progressive society that promotes freedom for all. However, to get to this point, slaves had to undergo incredible hardships. Through a discussion of slavery in the United States and the Civil War, this suffering for significance can be better understood.

Although slavery was nothing new when it came to the United States with the founding of the English colonies in the United States, it quickly transformed into something abominable ("Slavery in the United States," 2009). Black slaves in the United States could perform many tasks that other hard laborers could not, or refused not to. Because of this, and other factors, black slaves became the primary source of labor in many colonies, leading to an economy that was literally resting on their shoulders. Although the colonists attempted to use Native Americans in addition to the black slaves for labor, the Native Americans could quickly escape, as the United States was their homeland, and they knew how to get around. Other slaves took the form of indentured servants, but this quickly became an unviable option, as many in England were reluctant to enter into the terms of the indentured servant. Adding fuel to the fire of this situation was the fact that black slaves had already begun to accumulate in England, making the practice of having such slaves rather easy and morally justifiable in the eyes of the colonists ("Slavery in the United States," 2009).

But slavery was a practice that was more than simply requiring humans to do work for others. This kind of slavery had existed for hundreds of years, and plenty of examples are listed in the Bible. Loosing tribes in wars were often made the slaves of the winners in ancient times. According to Robinson (2007) many actually used the Bible to support the conditions and existence of slavery in the 1800s. Christians drew on the fact that the Bible gave examples of slavery to suggest that slavery must have been morally correct. In addition to this, Robinson shows that Reverend Alexander Campbell thought that because slavery was regulated in the Bible, rather than condoned, it was moral. Others, like Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, considered slavery to be an establishment explicitly put into place by God (Robinson, 2007). After the abolition movement had taken off, Robinson (2007) argues that many Christians never found the innocence of faith that they had before the existence of slavery in the colonies. In fact, Robinson (2007) even argues that some questioned whether the Bible could be assumed to be wholly true.

But this so-called Godly establishment was wrought with human rights abuses. Masters began to look at their slaves as inferior to them, more like animals than humans. While the conditions of slavery in the United States during the colonial period were not as harsh as they were under the second-generation masters, the character of the slave trade during these second-generation masters included harsh beatings for discipline ("Slavery in the United States," 2009). Indeed, the entire institution of slavery was wrought with human rights abuses that many soon began to see as contrary to the Declaration of Independence and Spirit of America ("Slavery in the United States," 2009). Certainly, from a millennial viewpoint, it makes sense that forcing a person to work in harsh, deplorable conditions, have no control over their lives, and face the possibility of the sale of him or herself and his or her family members without notice is the polar opposite of freedom.