Download Perspectives on Slavery

Perspectives on Slavery
James Kirke Paulding, from New York, was a leader in the pro-slavery movement. He wrote a book entitled Slavery in
the United States that criticized the abolitionist movement and defended slavery. He thought abolitionists caused too much
tension between free and slave states. Paulding believed that the Bible, the Constitution, and Southern state laws protected
slavery. He believed slaves actually had a better life than factory workers in the North. He also believed AfricanAmericans were inferior to whites and argued that they should not be allowed to mix with whites at all. He thought slaves
would be unable to live with freedom.
John C. Calhoun was a political leader from South Carolina who served as Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Vice
President for Andrew Jackson, as well as a senator and congressman. He was a member of the planter class. This means he
owned well over 100 slaves and raised cash crops for his money. He strongly believed that slavery was an issue that
should be decided by the states, not the federal government. Slavery, Calhoun believed, was a positive good and was part
of the Southern way of life. He believed that it was impossible for whites and African-Americans to exist together and that
social and political equality was impossible.
Hinton Helper was a white Southerner who was against slavery. In 1857, he wrote The Impending Crisis of the South
where he criticized slavery not because it was bad for African-Americans, but because it actually hurt poor whites in the
South. Helper believed that since poor whites could not afford slaves they could not compete against the planter class. The
South was hurting itself, he wrote, by allowing slavery to exist. The book created controversy throughout the nation and
was banned in the South. Although Helper was against slavery, he did not like African-Americans. He was against them
being in the United States at all. If African-Americans were to remain in the U.S., Helper believed they should be totally
segregated from whites.
Abraham Lincoln was the president from 1861-1865. Lincoln personally was against slavery, but he was not an
abolitionist. When he was campaigning for president he promised that he would not interfere with slavery in the South. He
was against slavery expanding to the new Western territories. As president, Lincoln was actually more interested in
preserving the Union than freeing the slaves. He said, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it;
and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do that also.” Yet, Frederick Douglass
complimented Lincoln when he said, “In all my interviews with Mr. Lincoln I was impressed with his entire freedom from
prejudice against the colored race.”
William Lloyd Garrison was one of the most famous white abolitionists and published the anti-slavery newspaper The
Liberator, the most outspoken anti-slavery publication of its time. He joined the anti-slavery movement in Boston when he
was 25, and 3 years later he helped start the American Anti-Slavery Society. Garrison demanded an immediate end to
slavery. He once set fire to a copy of the Constitution because it did not outlaw slavery. He urged Northern states to
secede from, or leave, the United States. Garrison was hated in the South and considered by many in the North to be too
radical in his beliefs.
The Grimke Sisters were the only Southern women to become abolitionist leaders. Sarah and Angelina Grimke were
raised as part of the planter class but became disgusted with slavery and moved to the North. They demonstrated their
hatred of slavery by actually freeing the slaves their mother had given them. The Grimke sisters wrote anti-slavery
pamphlets that encouraged Southern women to stop slavery because it was morally wrong. Obviously, the Grimke sisters
were hated in the South. Both sisters traveled the North giving speeches to both men and women, something very unusual
at the time. Both were also active in the women’s rights movement.
Frederick Douglass was a slave in Maryland until his escape when he was 21 years old. He became an important
abolitionist after he was invited to share his story at an anti-slavery convention in 1841. Despite heckling, insults, and
personal attacks, he continued to speak about the evils of slavery. Douglass used the money he made from speaking to aid
runaway slaves. From 1847 to 1860, Douglass published his own newspaper, the North Star. He was an advisor to
president Lincoln during the Civil War and was the main reason Lincoln allowed former slaves to fight for the North.
Harriet Tubman became a leading abolitionist after escaping from slavery in 1849. She escaped by using the
“Underground Railroad”, a secret network of about 3,000 people that helped escaped slaves find freedom in the North and
Canada. After her escape, Tubman devoted her energy to helping other slaves escape to freedom by being a “conductor”,
or leader, for the Underground Railroad. She said, “To this solemn resolution I came; I was free, and the other slaves
should be free also; I would make a home for them in the North, and the Lord helping me, I would bring them all here.”
Known as the “Moses of her people”, Tubman led more than 300 slaves to freedom. She showed incredible courage by
going back to the South again and again to lead slaves to freedom.