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Pro Slavery Lobby Essay

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As tensions began to rise between northern and southern states, various arguments and debates took place between important political figures from both sides. Among these arguments were opinions based around states rights, national tariffs, trade, and the most extreme, slavery . Slavery was apart of the culture in the south and had been since the founding of Jamestown in 1619 (The Southern Argument for Slavery). The anti-slavery lobby declared that slavery was unjustifiable, cruel, and unnecessary for the success of the southern economy, while the pro-slavery lobby stood firm on the belief that slavery was necessary for the survival of the southern economy, bringing slaves over helped Africans escape Africa and it’s harsh conditions, and black …show more content…

Much like many verses from the Bible, the way I interpret its meaning and the way you interpret its meaning could be as different as night and day. One example of this is Ephesians 6:5 (Blake, 2011), which was a verse that was used to argue against the abolition of slavery. It states, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ (Eph. 6:9 [New International Version]).” When thinking literally, or how the pro-slavery lobby wanted people to think, one might say that this verse does indeed condone slavery because of the way it addresses how slaves should act towards their masters. It almost seems to show that human slavery was intended to be apart of life. However, when knowing the book of Ephesians and the purpose behind it, you realize that this verse wasn’t intended to condone slavery at all. Paul wrote the book of Ephesians to the church, explaining the purpose and nature of it (Eph. 1:1 [New International Version]). This tells me that this verse was indeed directed towards both a slave and a slave master, but not because slavery was appropriate. Since slavery was very much apart of roman society and Paul wrote the book of Ephesians to maintain harmony in the church, master/slave relations was a topic that needed to be addressed (Blake, 2011). To prove that it was written to maintain peace and not just to command slaves on

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Auld’s misinterpretation of the passage emphasizes slave owners use of religion to reinforce their power over their slaves. Christianity rationalized the concept of buying and selling human beings, and that God approved this too. In addition, Douglass used religion as a way to fuel his abolition movement. Under Master Hugh’s, Douglass began to learn how to read and write. Once

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Continued along the lines, any money or items they receive is given to the owner. Sages of which had written in the Lawbook of manu reflect the ideas presented in culture and tradition along with the superior and high class. In Document 2, the letter presented by Paul holds similar text in which slaves did not contain any rights and were commanded from their master. Although Paul is against the general ideas of slavery due to his christian belief, he notes that slavery exists and that the slaves have no power. Documents 7 presents the view of slave trade which was due to the slaves being acted upon like property.

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It is a common argument for Christian slaveholders to make “…that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right…” (5). this argument exposes their hypocrisy as it conveys how they attempt to stretch small pieces of scripture to justify the violence of the American slavery. Douglass thus asks if it is humane to use a small piece of writing to damn an entire race to hardship and subhuman treatment. This case of blasphemy is amplified by the observation that Douglass makes of one of his slave masters, Mr. Covey, in that “he seemed to think himself equal to deceiving the almighty” (61).

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It regards slaves as not human beings. Even the good Christian people don’t treat them equally they view “blacks as the epitome of incivility, thus justifying their mistreatment” (Michael Taylor). In a romantic story everyone is treated as equals but in Huckleberry Finn black people aren’t even allowed to vote in a majority of the states but in the states they are allowed to vote people got angry and said, “I’ll never vote again” (Twain 33). The white people don’t want the black people to have any rights. People won’t do anything nice for slaves because they feel like they don’t deserve it.

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With slavery being a normal part of the culture during Paul’s life, one could argue his viewpoints surrounding it were nonconventional, as they encourage a respectful relationship between master and slave; therefore, his letter points more to the demise of institutional slavery. This opinion is supported in the lecture notes titled “Prison Letters of Paul” (n.d.) under the Philemon section as it stated, “…Paul certainly plants seeds for a more explicit abolition found in later centuries” (p. 79). His advocating for this is apparent throughout his New Testament books by clearly illustrating his attitude towards this subservient relationship that many were a part of. With slaves considered an inferior class, Paul’s authority that masters are also answerable to God projected a deflation of egotistical superiority over those who owned slaves.

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Paul didn’t see Onesimus as a slave but as a human who was given the same love for God as he was given. Apostle Paul knew that’s the same love that Christians give to one another is to be the same love and respect even for a

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