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Slavery Was An Institution That Caused By The North And South Of The United States

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Slavery was an institution that caused much division between the north and south of the United States back in the 1800’s that instigated many political, economic and moral fights between northern abolitionists and southern slaveholders. The system was established on the basis of economic profits, cheap labor, and morality of “saving” Africans from their previous lifestyle. The Southern states were notorious slave-holding states, while the North contained few, but far, slave-holders. Despite the number of slaves present in the south, their impact on production effected the economy in the north. The few but proud abolitionists in the north saw right through southerner’s proslavery ideology, and refuted their claims on the grounds of …show more content…

Abandonment was a common theme throughout the slave trade, where families were spilt up and individuals were abandoned by their loved ones because buyers saw one as more profitable and worthy compared to the other (12 years a slave). Garrison in his call for immediate abolition of slavery contends that this nation was built on the natural rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and that “all men are created equal.” He was unapologetic to call all slave-holder’s attention to his fight for abolition, claiming that the severity of this issue was too extremely to let pass (doc reader). While both Douglass and Garrison sought to gain the sympathy and outrage of middle-class readers through their writing, many women were also getting involved in the abolition movement. Women like Sarah Grimke saw that slaves elsewhere were able to change masters as they pleased (within good reasoning) while slaves in America did not have that much flexibility (Douglass 85). Other women saw the need to abolish slavery as a form of their own freedom from domestic abuse. While the masters would beat and hit the slaves he owned, this dominating characteristic of slave owning would reflect back onto the home life of many, negatively impacting the wives (lecture 3). Alcohol also was a key piece to the whole system, because many of the slaveholders were oftentimes drunkards, which increased the likelihood of abuse (Douglass 70). Women used the idea

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