Understanding Slavery

I believe you are correct that we all need to learn more on the subject. The site is a little overwhelming, though, on first glance.

One misnomer is that all American slaves - even during the "Civil War" - were in the South.

 

Bro. Jim! That came at just the perfect time. Our home school requirements for 3rd grade include the history of YOUR OWN state and there are close to 200 accounts of slavery in Georgia. Thanks!
Diane

 

Thank you for that website, it is very informative. How anyone could look at that and think that slavery could be justified in any manner is beyond me.

No P.C. jargon here, just the words of people who were slaves and how they were treated.

The churces of their day were derelict in not rising up against this evil.

 

I've finally figured out how to navigate the site fairly well, and this is really good. For those of you who won't take the time to read it - you will find reports of slaves who were treated badly, and some who were treated well. Here's a few excerpts:

 

Wouldn't it also be valuable to research the history of slavery?

Slavery was not an idea that originated with the United States.

The above excerpt is from the Chronology of World Slavery Encyclopedia

Here is another site.
The Origins and Nature of New World Slavery

I think to understand Slavery, if that is even possible, you have to look further back than U.S. history. (Not excluding it ) and also look at slavery that is still going on in the world today.

 

This one was really sad among others. I found a person with the same last name as my husbands brother-in-law. I don't know if I want to go any further reading these. It really bothered me.


"I was born March 23, 1850 in Kentucky, somewhere near Louisville. I am goin' on 88 years right now. (1937). I was brought to Missouri when I was six months old, along with my mama, who was a slave owned by a man named Shaw, who had allotted her to a man named Jimmie Graves, who came to Missouri to live with his daughter Emily Graves Crowdes. I always lived with Emily Crowdes."

The matter of allotment was confusing to the interviewer and Aunt Sally endeavored to explain.

"Yes'm. Allotted? Yes'm. I'm goin' to explain that, " she replied. "You see there was slave traders in those days, jes' like you got horse and mule an' auto traders now. They bought and sold slaves and hired 'em out. Yes'm, rented 'em out. Allotted means somethin' like hired out. But the slave never got no wages. That all went to the master. The man they was allotted to paid the master."

"I was never sold. My mama was sold only once, but she was hired out many times. Yes'm when a slave was allotted, somebody made a down payment and gave a mortgage for the rest. A chattel mortgage. . . ."

"Allotments made a lot of grief for the slaves," Aunt Sally asserted. "We left my papa in Kentucky, 'cause he was allotted to another man. My papa never knew where my mama went, an' my mama never knew where papa went." Aunt Sally paused a moment, then went on bitterly. "They never wanted mama to know, 'cause they knowed she would never marry so long she knew where he was. Our master wanted her to marry again and raise more children to be slaves. They never wanted mama to know where papa was, an' she never did," sighed Aunt Sally.

 

Currently, I am reading The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave. I highly recommend it to everyone. It is a short book (about 120 pages). It details the life of an incredible man who learned to read and write as a slave and went on to become one of the most famous abolitionists of the 19th century.

 

A friend of mine told me that many years ago they changed their last name because they moved to a new area and wanted a new start. They moved from Alabama to New York.

 

It is often claimed by those who would revise history, that the civil war was not caused by slavery. Usually they say it was over "states rights" or some such thing. This claim is a lie and is brought up to put a more favorable light on the southern states that made up the Confederacy. I am currently reading a book entitled "Lincoln's Virtues" by William Lee Miller. He quotes the vice-president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, who said, in essence that the Confederacy was founded on the premise that the blacks were inferior. And Stephens goes on to endorse the idea that slavery was the cause of the war. Of course anyone who thinks clearly knows that already, but these revisionists, including some Baptist pastors often come up with this crazy idea.

 

As anyone who has been around the block a few times knows, the victors write the history; therefore, it is sometimes necessary that history be revised to correct falsehoods. The whole USA had a problem with slavery. If one studies the attitudes of the Union toward African-Americans he will find they were hardly different enough to merit distinguishing between(in recent history I seem to recall the strongest opposition to bussing school children for integration purposes was in Boston, Massachusetts - and Boston was not a part of the Confederacy ).

Yes, slavery was {b]an[/b] issue, but it was clearly not the only issue. In fact, on this subject history is DEVASTATING as to the why the Yankees invaded the CSA. If slavery was the main reason or even an important reason, then why was the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation for the Union not issued by President Lincoln until September 22, 1862, and the final one that included the South until January 1, 1863? Therefore, the first almost 2 years of the War of Northern Aggression had NOTHING whatsoever to do with freeing slaves.

Furthermore, the Congress never even passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery until January 31, 1865(almost at the war's end) and it wasn't ratified until December 6, 1865(almost 8 months after the war ended).

To claim that the Union was altruistic and prmarily or even secondarily invaded the South to free slaves is simply not true, and anyone who believes that to be the case is deceived.

 

England is a classed society. I was born in East London, the slums, and no matter how famous or rich I may become, I will still be a lad from West Ham. I accept that, m'lord, but for the life of me, I will never understand what can be right about owning another human being. What is there to understand about slavery?

Cheers,

Jim

 

INTERESTING EMANCIPATION TIMELINE AND FACTS
</font>

• November 1860 - Lincoln elected President</font>
• December 1860 - South Carolina secedes from the Union (5 more states join them in Feb. 1861)</font>
• April 1861 - "battle" of Fort Sumter; Lincoln calls for troops to put down the "rebellion"</font>
• May 1861 - by this time 5 more states have seceded, bringing the CSA to 11</font>
• December 1861 - Lincoln requires Secretary of War to remove references to emancipation from his annual report = Secretary Cameron's report</font>
• April 1862 - Slavery abolished in the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States, one year AFTER Fort Sumter = D. C. Emancipation Act</font>
• May 1862 - President Lincoln nullifies U. S. General Hunter's declaration of freedom to slaves in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina = Lincoln's proclamation</font>
• June 1862 - Congress prohibits slavery in the territories = Act to Secure Freedom</font>
• July 1862 - Lincoln appeals to border states for gradual emancipation of slaves; the appeal is rejected</font>
• September 1862 - Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation; Lincoln declares intent to emancipate slaves in any state in rebellion (but not in the Union)</font>
• January 1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation "emancipates" slaves in the Confederacy, but not in the border states or parts of the Confederacy already under Northern control</font>
• December 1863 - Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction offers pardon to Confederates who take an oath of allegiance to the Union and accept emancipation</font>
• March 1864 - Arkansas (CSA) Pro-Union voters ratify new constitution abolishing slavery</font>
• April 1864 - Senate approves constitutional amendment abolishing slavery</font>
• June 1864 -House fails to approve constitutional amendment abolishing slavery</font>
• September 1864 - Louisiana (CSA) Pro-Union voters ratify new constitution abolishing slavery</font>
• October 1864 - Maryland (USA) ratifies new constitution abolishing slavery</font>
• January 1865 - Missouri (USA) ratifies new constitution abolishing slavery</font>
• January 1865 - U.S. House approves amendment abolishing slavery, sending it to the states for ratification</font>
• February 1865 - amendment to Tennessee (CSA) constituion abolishes slavery</font>
• April 1865 - General Lee surrenders at Appomattox</font>
• December 1865 - Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to U. S. Constitution announced.</font>

There is quite a bit of information on Lincoln, Emancipation, et. al at this site, where I found most of my links: http://alumni.cc.gettysburg.edu/

 

On April 12th 1861, the Confederate States opened fire on Fort Sumter (South Carolina). The South shot first.

 

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;Yes, slavery was {b]an[/b] issue, but it was clearly not the only issue. In fact, on this subject history is DEVASTATING as to the why the Yankees invaded the CSA. If slavery was the main reason or even an important reason, then why was the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation for the Union not issued by President Lincoln until September 22, 1862, and the final one that included the South until January 1, 1863? Therefore, the first almost 2 years of the War of Northern Aggression had NOTHING whatsoever to do with freeing slaves.&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;

The primary cause of the war was not whether or not slaves in the southern states would be freed. The north and Lincoln stated many times that it was not their objective to free the slaves. The primary disagreement that led to the war was whether or not slavery would be allowed in newly forming states such as Kansas and other new states. So the war was about slavery, but not about slavery in the existing slave states. Lincoln was more interested in preserving the union than in freeing slaves, according to his own words, which he made quite clear in a letter to Horace Greely. But the south wanted slavery to be accepted as morally correct and most apparently felt that to get this moral approval it was necessary to be allowed to spread slavery to new areas. Lincoln was not willing to allow it to spread and he was not willing to turn over the federal installations in the south to state control. Fort Sumter was a federal fort. The south miscalculated in trying to take it. If the south had not insisted on withdrawing from the union, they could have kept slavery indefinitely.

 

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;And winners write history for sure. To justify the vile invasion of the Southern states by their "brothers" (glad I don't have yankeescum brothers) and forcing subjection to a union, generations of school children have been misinformed about the realities of slavery.&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;

What do you think were the realities of slavery? And by the way, as far as I know, the war was not initially justified on the basis of slavery but as a means of bringing the southern states back into the union. Another important point is that the south invaded the north before there was any substantial invasion of the south. You do know that Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania, don't you?

 

Slavery was not the only reason for the formation of the CSA. I advise you to get a fair and balanced history book, not one written solely from the Yankee aggressor's viewpoint.

I see you have already been forced by the presentation of the facts in this thread to change your tune from the War of Northern Aggression being about slavery already in existence to being about potential future slavery in other states.

 

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;To claim that the Union was altruistic and prmarily or even secondarily invaded the South to free slaves is simply not true, and anyone who believes that to be the case is deceived.&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;

But no one is making that claim. Still, slavery was the most important factor in starting the war and it was related to the fact that Lincoln and others did not want to see slavery spread to newly formed states. Although the war did not start as a crusade to free slaves, Lincoln captured the moral high ground in the middle of the war by freeing a portion of the slaves on paper. Many fugitive slaves become union soldiers, so in that way helped the war effort. Possibly some Union soldiers were altruistic but many were against fighting to free the slaves. On balance the emancipation proclamation probably helped the war effort more than it hurt, but it was in some ways a liability also.

 

The South seceded primarily because of slavery. While there were other issues, slavery was the driving point. The North fought against secession, not slavery. The freeing of the slaves was, I believe, a divine byproduct of the War.