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Slavery During The Civil War

Decent Essays

Slavery was introduced to America in the 1620s and was not abolished until 1865, lasting over 240 years. Before the civil war in 1861 which was fought by the Northern and Southern states, slavery was extremely popular and supported by much of America’s white population. Due to the fact that slavery was supplying cotton and other marketable materials that were significantly beneficial to the economy, people often forgot or chose to ignore the barbarous and inhumane conditions that slaves had to endure everyday of their lives. People believed so strongly in this diabolical institution that they would say or do anything to convince others that this practice was perfectly just. Three examples of people who demonstrate this would be Richard H. Colfax, William John Grayson, and George W. Freeman. These slavery defenders used several appeals and arguments to persuade people into believing that slavery was beneficial to all, including the slaves themselves. These claims were dauntlessly refuted by escaped slave and open abolitionist Frederick Douglass who wrote about his life and the vivid accounts proving how slavery truly was; his autobiography, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, proves that the arguments of the slavery supporters were completely irrational. Colfax wrote the book Evidence Against the Views of the Abolitionists, Consisting of Physical and Moral Proofs, stating very evidently that he believed blacks were physically, mentally, and

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