Slavery in the 1840s

Slavery was always a controversial issue in America. Many people saw slavery as an essential part of life in every aspect, while others saw it as immoral and an injustice to humanity. In the 1840s when Manifest Destiny started to thrive, things began to heat up. New territories meant a possibility for a new slave or free state in America. Because the new territories were allowed the right of popular sovereignty to determine whether they would have slaves or not, abolitionists and non-abolitionists were at a constant battle to gain a new state. Abolitionists wanted slavery diminished in America all together. They gave several arguments to prove their point on why slavery should be abolished. Firstly they stated that slavery was un-Christian. The book of Genesis stated that man was created in the image of God, so all men were created equal. Thus they claimed that anyone that owned slaves would go straight to hell for not adhering to the rules of God that all were equal. Another argument they came about was from a patriotic standpoint from which America was created. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, but with slavery and a flee for freedom in the nation, it was easily contradicted. As such, Abolitionists called slavery un-American. Another point made by the Abolitionists was that slavery gave unlimited power to slave holders. They could treat slaves however they chose because there were no laws protecting slaves. This is turn corrupted their moral values, according to Abolitionists. In economic viewpoints, slavery was still cruel and wicked to Abolitionists. They argued that free labor would be more beneficial because it would inspire competition and foreign investments and that it would appeal to immigrants. Abolitionists also said that it interfered with free and open trade to the north, which were anti-slavery states and businesses. Another point made was that slavery was politically dangerous because there was always a