Slavery In America In The 1800s

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“I would unite with anybody to do right and nobody to do wrong.”

-Frederick Douglass

This quote applied to many people in the 1800s. The time period in which the United States was getting ready to face one of its hardest decisions ever. The issue of whether or not slavery would be allowed in America. The US was drastically changed in the coming years and it would never be the same again. Enslaved blacks had little to no rights in the beginning of the 19th century but after many influencing factors and the bloody civil war, they were able to achieve freedom.

Slavery first began in the 1600s and wasn’t abolished until December of 1865. During …show more content…
James Sullivan said, “The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness.” In 1844 the presidential election was won by James K. Polk who added around one million square miles to the US, continuing with this belief of Manifest Destiny. However, he did not effectively deal with slavery. Shortly after his successor, Abraham Lincoln, was inaugurated, civil war broke out. Free black men and fugitive slaves seeking their own freedom came from all around the US to fight in the war. Slaves were granted freedom after the war and many slaves ran away to war for this reason. Tension in America due to politics continued to rise as the economy went through many dramatic changes. In the early 1800s the US dropped into depression, then went through an economic revival in the 1840s and 50s. After the Civil War ended the US went through a long period of post-war deflation and the era finally ended in the Panic of 1893, which was a serious economic depression marked by the collapse of the railroad system which in turn caused a series of bank failures. However, despite major fluctuations in politics and the economy, the population rose from 17 million to 67 million. Immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Britain, and China were the main reason for the drastic …show more content…
They were willing to put everything on the line, their life included, to escape slavery. Freedom is often taken for granted and many don’t realize that it is not always given. Slaves were put in situations many could never even dream of and their actions were extremely appropriate given their circumstances. However, after escaping, many slaves joined the army and that is a debatable decision. After being treated brutally everyday of their life, slaves should not have felt compelled to fight for a country trying to suppress their whole race just because the color of their skin was different. Instead of fighting in the war, they possibly could’ve helped other slaves escape their
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