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Ending Slavery In The Silence By Joseph Ellis

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In The Silence, author Joseph Ellis outlines how a noble effort to end slavery in the American republic gradually devolved into a decision by Congress to abandon any federal plans for the emancipation of enslaved people. At the heart of this transformation were the practical challenges that threatened the country’s stability, as well as the extreme pressure created by the fiercely partisan political and ideological landscape of the new nation. Initially, the post-revolutionary vision was one greatly influenced by the egalitarian ideals of enlightenment; This hopeful vision was represented by congressional proposals introduced in 1790, such as that brought forth by the Quakers, who called for the abolition of slavery. Ellis details how this idealistic fervor for emancipation was stunted by immediate and insurmountable …show more content…

This financial impracticality, combined with the expanding political divisions between the North and South, made federal intervention realistically impossible. Moreover, Ellis underscores the influence of the different stances of the North and South on congressional decisions. Southern states, reliant on slavery, vehemently opposed any federal mandate that threatened their economic stability. The South’s pragmatic approach to the issue was contrasted with that of the idealism of the Northern states, whose focus pertained to the moral shortcomings of slavery. The animus disagreement between the two largest factions in the American Republic proved to be too great of a matter for Congress to rule on, especially amid existing divisions over debt. This dilemma led to the eventual ‘silence’ in Congress on the issue of slavery. In his writing, Ellis effectively demonstrates how the decision to end federal plans for emancipation was not simply a matter of policy, but a reflection of the perpetual division and practical constraints that bound the early

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