Throughout history different events have occurred that were considered immoral or inhuman, yet, the people committing to these activities were unaware of the situation itself and in their minds, were justified in their actions. This is also true when discussing slavery; pro-slavists defend slavery, arguing that slavery has existed since the pre-biblical era and it was the nature of mankind to have this hierarchy organize the modern world. Historical, pro-slavists argue that slavery has always existed additionally, they argue that slavery was God-ordained and therefore natural.
Initially, historical justification is defined as always existing which in this case is true dating back to the “ancient republics of Greece and Rome and the great European empires” described by Foner (Foner, 406). A large party in the U.S. believed that holding slaves was morally wrong, however, since the bible stated that Abraham, the chosen servant of god, had servants similar to slaves working/living in the same
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Slaveholders justified the practice on a biblical sense stating that the “Bible teaches clearly and conclusively that the holding slaves are right” (Slavery and the bible, 413), and these concepts are clearly backed up in both the old and new testament. The bible clearly approves of slavery in more than one passage, and even goes to the extent of explaining how to obtain slaves, how they should be treated, and when you can have sex with a female slave. In Leviticus 25:44-46, the bible proves that slavery is justified by saying things like “you may purchase male or female slaves”, “you may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permeant inheritance” (Leviticus 25; 44-46). To many Americans this made slavery a very logical idea, questioning people who disapproved the idea with the concern that they would challenge God’s