Slavery Difference Between North And South 19th Century

The enslavement of Africans and African Americans in Early America created a clear divide between the North and South. The North, primarily opponents of slavery, argued that slavery violated the basic principal of American democracy – respect for fundamental human rights. On the contrary, the South had an aristocratic understanding of democracy. Proponents of slavery also believed that the prosperity, technologies, and innovations that emerged from this institution was essential for American capitalism. Both opponents and proponents of slavery exercised principals of capitalism and democracy to justify their stance. Southerners argued that slavery was central to the rise of American democracy – slaveowners vowed that the institution of slavery

Westward expansion in the 19th century sparked the controversial question of slavery with respect to the progress of American development. Certainly, determination and sovereignty attracted people to move westward, but countless people were forced into slavery in this supposed new land of liberties. The institution of slavery considerably slowed down, or even reversed, the nation’s progress. Opponents of slavery stood by the ideals of democracy. That is to say, “in the name of liberty that is fettered” (Douglass) they stood by the ideal that slavery violated fundamental rights. Abolitionists supported their position by drawing on the ideals upon which the nation had been founded. Slavery falsified the basic principal that all men were born one and the same (regardless of race), as specifically noted in the Declaration of Independence. For this reason, slavery was anti-American. Furthermore, the North argued that the institution of slavery was anti-Christian. According to The Bible, all men were created equal in the image of God. That is, they possessed the strong mentality that all men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Walker). Opponents of slavery argued that in order to be a good Christian, you had to be against slavery – a person was undeniably anti-Christian, and lacked compassion for human life, if they stood by slavery. In short, the North asserted that Southern slavery was immoral and