Essay Example on Slavery was the institution that dehumanized the African American

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Slavery was the institution that dehumanized the African American population of the United States Though the whole country adopted it the agricultural south depended on it enormously for their survival however the industrial north frowned upon it The Second Great Awakening pushed for abolition the results of the Mexican American war led to the posed and prominent debate of expanding slavery and the Compromise of 1850 required both sides to relinquish some of their demands By the constant compromises the people of both the north and south held back on their desires which increased animosity between them leaving war to be an inevitable end The Second Great Awakening was an era of religious and social reform It began as a series of religious revivals and a prominent preacher was Charles Finney who gave more productive messages that moved people to devote and live their lives for Christ Abolitionism was the reform movement that dealt entirely with immediate emancipation for the slaves People felt it was un Christian to own slaves and finally African Americans were beginning to be viewed as people at least in the north In fact many churches split up over the debate on whether or not slavery was justifiable or immoral on all accounts In the south people used instances and examples of the bible to defend the institution of slavery 



Here both sides were clashing on their ideals and areas of conflict erupted when movements to free slaves erupted This made the Northerners and Southerners very bitter towards one another The Mexican American war was solely fought on the idea of manifest destiny the North American continent was to be conquered by the United States as a God given right The United States won the war and as the victor received all of the Mexican Cession present day Southwestern USA With all of this new land came questions about free states slave states and the expansion of slavery In order for California to be admitted as a free slave state other areas slave status would be determined upon popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty meant the people populating the state would vote to see if they wanted slavery or not Though this disappointed the North California as a free state was too great of an offer to pass up However the tragedy of Bleeding Kansa occurred as a result of this Basically border ruffians crossed the border from Missouri into Kansas to physically force the acceptance of slavery and make Kansas a slave state The topic of slavery and Bleeding Kansas was already violent but the violence took a new title when it reached congress During a heated discussion Senator Charles Sumner was beaten to death with a cane by Preston Brooks a South Carolinian man Sumner was discussing how the crimes in Kansas were a result of the harlot slavery He seemed to have notably offended Brooks This event in history was important because when congressmen and officials begin to let their own differences show in office matter have become much more precedent and uncontrollable Here it is clear to see sides are being drawn anti slavery activists and pro slavery activists both sides willing to become violent for their cause 



The Underground Railroad was a systemic method of helping slaves escape from the South to the North Throughout the nights courageous conductors would lead slaves onto a long journey by foot to the North and during the day slaves would take refuge in safe havens houses of white men and women to hide until dusk The south was losing their labor resource at alarming rates and the slave laws at that time made it hard for the south to redeem their slaves When Henry Clay proposed the Great Compromise of 1850 the south refused to agree without a stricter fugitive slave law The North wanted to admit California as free state and as an effort to appease both sides the option of popular sovereignty was decided for the other sects of land to determine their status on slavery This way the south was able to redeem the slaves they had lost during abolition movements the Underground Railroad and so on The new fugitive slave act required Northerners to report any runaway slaves back to the South The northerners were very uncomfortable with doing this because they saw this as recapturing slaves They did not want anything to do with slavery and here they were being asked to recapture slaves for the south If they hadn t or refused then they would be fined or imprisoned The law also gave commissioners ten dollars for returning slaves and only five dollars if releasing the slave and not finding reason paperwork to tie them back to their owner In a way this bribed commissioners to return even freed men to the south The idea of this reverse Underground Railroad disturbed northerners It disrupted their morals and forced them to go against their own beliefs or otherwise face consequences

Many refused to do so but once again had to suffer the repercussions of their actions They made cartoons that would mock the south and the south would do the same as well Many abolitionists spoke up against the fugitive slave act including Frederick Douglass who said it went against the bible to recapture slaves who had run for their freedom The American Civil War was inevitable as long as slavery was still a necessity for the South and the North despised it profusely Slavery caused tension in many federal pursuits whether it was the Mexican American war or the great compromise of 1850 The Second Great Awakening caused civil tension and disgust between the Northerners and Southerners both sides utterly repulsed by the beliefs of the other Disunion was provoked and prompted by slavery mostly due to the discomfort it caused amongst the people when brought up in every situation building up to the Civil War


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