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Examples Of Southerner's Justification Of Slavery

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Southerner’s Justification of Slavery Using the Bible Slavery was first introduced into America when Jamestown was founded in 1619. It was introduced so that the slaves would do all of the work for slave owners and they would be able to make profit off of their labor. They were submitted to horrible acts of inhumanity against their will. Many slaveowners justified their actions with the bible. Slavery was introduced into Jamestown so that they could work for their owners. They constantly worked from dawn to sunset. They had to make food for the entire plantation slaves which left them no time to rest. Some of their tasks included working on the plantation, farms and fields, and in the main house. They had to constantly keep mental count …show more content…

Many of the slaveowners were church going Christians who thought they were doing the Lord’s work. They justified their actions by quoting verses from the Bible. One verse in the bible that they used to justify their actions states, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling” (Ephesians 6:5). Whenever they would be questioned how they were capable of owning slaves and treating them poorly, they would state that verse and ask how anyone could go against the word of god. Another verse is Titus 2:9 which states, “tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect.” They took them out of context to relieve their guilt in order to do those horrible things that they did. They thought that they were superior to African Americans, and thought that to be a good reason to use them as slaves. They thought that African Americans were unholy and that they had to be treated poorly for it. They contorted specific bible verses to use it to their advantage. Other Christians defended it by saying that Abraham, from the bible, owned slaves. Others talked about Paul returning a runaway slave to his master and that Jesus never spoke out against it. Since slaves were considered property, it was easier for them to do this. The slave owners thought that they doing the slaves a favor and they were better off as slaves rather than individual members of

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