In_What_Ways_Did_Supporters_of_Slavery_in_the_19th_Century_Use_Legal,_Religious,_and_Economic_Arguments_to_Defend_the_Institution_of_Slavery_

The importance of slave labor in the North made it easier for those states to end slavery, even though the slave trade had contributed a great amount to Northern wealth. During this time, legal, religious, and economic arguments were used to defend slavery. Slave labor, its products, and markets were very important to the Northern economy. For example, Northern factories produced materials from cotton grown in the South. Activist from the North began to work to end slavery in the South. The majority of the abolitionists were Christians who believed that men were made in God's image. They saw the protection of African-Americans as a God-given responsibility. In the 19th century, revivals in the South were first led by Methodist and Baptist preachers who opposed slavery. They eventually saw slavery the same way southerners did. When the Methodist and Baptist preachers began to support slavery, their churches started to grow. Southern slave owners looked through the Bible for language to control slaves by. Southern slaveholders saw abolitionists as dangerous meddlers, who would be better off staying to themselves. Pro-slavery apologists argued that the Northerners had no argument about slavery, because they couldn’t own any slaves. So, they felt the Northerners shouldn’t have an opinion about it. The effect of violent slave rebellions, such as the Vesey Revolt and John Brown's Massacre at Harper's Ferry, silent abolitionists mainly in the South. These events put fear in Southerners. South Carolinians had tolerated slavery. During a debate, they came to the decision that slavery was a positive thing, a civilizing benefit to the enslaved, and a proper response to the natural differences between whites and blacks. Apologists argued that the wage-employee system of the North was more exploitive than slavery was. By 1856, Governor James Hopkins Adams recommended that the Foreign Slave Trade be put back in place. A powerful minority of slave owners began arguing that every white man should legally be required to own at least one slave. They claimed this would give an interest in the issue responsibility. The supporters of slavery used economic arguments, religion, and legal issues to defend the institution of slavery. Legally, the minority of slave owners had to own at least one slave. Religiously, churches grew when preachers began to support slavery. When it can to economic arguments, South Carolinians reached a decision that slavery was a positive thing, because it solved natural differences between blacks and whites.