EOTO: Pro-slavery or Anti?

From 1619-1865 slavery was the highest demand of labor in the United States and lead to many revolts for and against the institution of slavery. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists both made grave arguments throughout this era of whether or not slavery was humane or inhumane.

Pro-slavery laws, such as the Fugitive Slave Laws in 1793, increased the demand that slavery be upheld, seeing that the Fugitive Slave Laws stated that a runaway slave is a fugitive and must be returned their rightful owner. Some states, like Maryland and Virginia, even went as far to offer money in order to have their slaves returned with an incentive to not hold slaves as "free" in the North because southern states didn't want slaves to run free. With Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, it greatly increased the demand for slave labor and aided to the argument that southerners made, that without slave labor they would receive no profit.

Anti-slavery activists were strong and influential in the fact that they held their ground based on their freedom of speech and their ability to fight back against slavery laws. The implementation of the Underground Railroad was a light of hope in slave's lives because it allowed for slaves to escape to the north and be led by other experienced slaves who guided them. Many famous cases also shined light on the extreme era that America was in, such as Dred Scott v. Sanford, where Dred Scott tried to argue that because his owner moved to a free state that he was ultimately free. The court argued that because slaves weren't citizens that they didn't have the ability to sue in federal courts.

Even today in classrooms all over the world pro-slaver and anti-slavery arguments are analyzed and picked over in order to gather a deeper understanding of this era and empathize with the suffering that slaves had to endure during this time.