The War Between the States

The definition of slavery is ownership of one human being by another. The Mayflower Compact, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States declared that all men are created equal. How then could slavery exist almost 100 years after our independence from England?

The first American slaves came from Africa and landed in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Most of our founding fathers were against slavery, but some, like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, owned slaves. Most people thought that slavery was wrong and that eventually it would not exist long.

After the cotton gin was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney, Southern plantation owners were able to separate the cotton faster and they depended more and more upon the slaves to grow and pick the cotton.

While the Southern states increased their slavery, the Northerners took a stronger stand against the slavery issue based upon the moral issue that all men are created equal.