abolition of slavery essay introduction

abolition of slavery essay introduction

The Abolition of Slavery: A Call for Freedom and Equality

1. Introduction: Understanding the Historical Significance

The notion of being “in the service of” denotes that there is further application to be made from this history, in that it is not merely a study of something that was theoretically relevant in order to answer existing questions or confirm existing dogma. This has relevance for the manner in which the history of slavery has been approached and the questions that have been asked of it. Often, it has been no more than an assumption that the history can serve as an explanation for the current status of poverty and underachievement in the black community. Any hope of coming to a full understanding and some progression in the mental impact of the history on all peoples would indicate that we are still very much students of this history.

The very opening lines of his introduction convey the sense of recent and unresolved history about the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement. The legacy is both a contested field yet simultaneously richly evocative and potent for understanding the nature of modern endeavor to achieve social justice. Schweiger sets out to assess how the study of slavery and its abolition can be seen as a deliberate effort to glean useful information in the service of Afro-American emancipation and further, as an attempt to make sense of larger issues in the modern world. This will be the foundational point that he will use to gauge the importance of this period of history for the wider world.

The first entry “Introduction: Understanding the Historical Significance” by Beth Schweiger is a critical analysis of slavery throughout history. This analysis is both selective and critical, as it assesses its value as a key turning point in the history of freedom. His assessment becomes especially relevant when we consider the global effect of slavery.

2. The Brutality of Slavery: A Dark Chapter in Human History

The slave trade and the history of slavery are of great importance in the history of the world. As this essay attempts to place a clear understanding and judgment of the events listed within the title, it is important to understand the magnitude of the event and the consequences it has borne in relation to the change in global economic and political presence. Slavery has caused great suffering to many, yet it is worth if the suffering led to a change; a change that otherwise would not have come. The end of slavery brought about instances of legislation and received opinion that would not have otherwise existed. This enabled new cultures to form without forcible interruption, forming the diverse cultural melting pot that is the Caribbean today. This being taken into consideration, the suffering of slavery is still something that has placed a mark on history and is of great relevance. It is for this reason that the brutality of slavery is used as a tool of example of attempted justification of the system and in particular is used by those who take a strong stance against any form of servitude in fear of it returning to the way of permanent enslavement.

3. The Rise of Abolitionism: Voices of Change and Justice

Abolitionism was thrust to a national platform with the 1776 publication of the first anti-slavery pamphlet, written by a Native American, with African and European bloodlines, named Primus Hall. The first voice of the abolitionist movement, however, was that of blacks who spoke from their own experiences. The very existence of these blacks was a contradiction of the notion that slaves were biologically inferior and deserving of their condition, and the late 18th Century saw an upsurge of slave rebellions and runaways in the wake of the American Revolution. The rebelling spirit of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones led these individuals to form rebellion-free black Methodist congregations, which was a form of abolitionist activity. The Quakers needed no more persuasion that blacks were equal humans, and in 1775 Phil

The abolitionist movement took its first steps toward American antislavery during the 1760s and 1770s. The Quakers were among the first to denounce slavery, but Puritan pressure influenced the 1761 Massachusetts judicial decision, in the case of slave Quock Walker, to effectively end slavery in that state. Then again, it was Puritan pressure that influenced Vermont—a state without slaves—to be the first American entity to abolish slavery, doing so as it wrote its state constitution in 1777. It was the Quaker Anthony Benezet of Philadelphia, however, who wrote the first published attacks against slavery during the 1760s, the most famous of which was his Some Historical Account of Guinea, published in 1771, and Quaker John Woolman who caused the Society of Friends to prohibit slaveholding after 1776 through a powerful pamphlet and by personally persuading slave owners to free their slaves. These Quaker leaders combined religious ideology with rationalist argument, denouncing the sin of slave trade and slaveholding while promoting the benefits of educating blacks and allowing them to lead free nurturing lives.

4. Abolitionist Movements and Strategies: Towards Emancipation

The first British colony to offer freedom to slaves was Massachusetts, in 1782. This decision was based on the state’s new constitution and was decided in court cases shortly after that. Before the American Revolution began, the English colonies had no legislation to secure the rights of blacks. In 1775, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation which promised freedom to slaves who would leave their rebel masters to join the royal forces. Similar proclamations offering freedom to runaways or to service in the British army were issued by Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis. In November 1775, the first anti-slavery society was founded by people from Quakers and Anthony Benezet in Philadelphia. The first public anti-slavery protest, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was written with efforts of Richard Henry Lee and it was mentioned at the fifth Virginia Convention of 1776. It is believed that Dr. Lee’s evidence of Thomas Jefferson’s original draft labeled a prolonged list of complaints against George III, for under his protection the slave trade was introduced. In the same year, Pennsylvania adopted a resolution for the freedom of blacks imported into the state, and the same was continued by Rhode Island and Connecticut two years later. The importation of slaves to Virginia was brought to an end by its governor, Thomas Jefferson, with his statute which took effect in 1778. In March 1783, a bill was passed in Connecticut for gradual emancipation. A similar law was passed in Pennsylvania in 1780.

5. The Legacy of Abolition: Lessons for a Just and Equal Society

The first significant stride towards resolving this matter was the Emancipation Proclamation. This document, which declared the freedom of slaves in the Confederate states, was a chief turning point in the development of the equality of blacks in America. It was so powerful in the fact that it reduced the amount of power that was held by the South and increased the amount of power that was held by the Federal government. This was essentially a catalyst towards a new era of equality in America. The Emancipation Proclamation was a vital stepping stone towards creating the equal society which we strive to achieve today, for it was the only way to rid of the inequality between blacks and whites. This was achieved by enabling the blacks to gain the same rights as the white citizens and the power that they held in society today. Only then, making it an equal playing field, was equality truly being achieved.

The end of slavery brought forward an era of oppression and suppression of blacks in America, although a veil of liberty and equality was beginning to unfurl. This was a beginning to new fears and evils that blacks would have to face in the guise of “freedom” and “justice.” The “freedom” and “justice” that was claimed to be fought and won for during the Civil War, which led to the abolition of slavery, actually ended up being no different from the state of enslavement. For at the heart of the defeat of the Confederacy was the question of what would become of ex-slaves, and a society wedded to the idea of a subordinate and degraded black minority was not prepared to accept their equality, much less compensate them for centuries of enslavement and despoliation. In order for the legacy of the abolition of slavery to be analyzed, it is crucial to realize that the quest for equality is still unrealized today, and that this was a plight which was embarked upon by the slaves and which granted them the freedom they yearned for. The abolition of slavery required an immense amount of power to be dismantled from the institution, which was deeply rooted in the Constitution of America.