Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-11-23
Mildren Baker Foster !.
School Composition -
Slavery.

Dear Courier Juniors:-
am sending you a school compo
sition on Slavery"
Slavery is system by which Ger
tain persons are kept as the property
of others. Amongst the Hebrews il
was a system of great mildness. Ma
tive Hebrew slaves were released
severy seventh year and treated kindly
At Athens the slaves were treated
kind but at Sparta were treated very
cruel. The slaves of the Romans were
either debtors or captives and were
not able to pay their debts. In Rome
the slaves had no rights at all and at
any little misdemeanor they were put
to death. At one time, it is said, that
one man when he died left 1000
slaves. Slaves, however, were some
times turned free. The Mohammcd-
ans of the Barbary states sometimes
got slaves by piracy in the Mediterran-
can sea.
ARter slavery had become an but ex-
tinct In Europe. it had a new birth in
Americt in 1919. The slaves were
brought from Africa to Virginia; they
WIZ eAO~AA ot cGCA ALI <AAAlCl1 1NOoS
of these unfortunate people were Eng
lish criminals, others were gypsies,
vagabonds, and poor orphan children
who had been captured in English
towns by press-gangs. The British
government favored such importattops
to the American colonies. The traffic
was very inhunan in many respects.
the negroes in Africa being hunted by
bloodhounds, and often treated with
great cruelty after reaching the Amer
lean colonies. Sir John Hawkins was
one of the most noted of the early
British slave traders, and William
Penn and the Quakers have the credit
Of being the first Americans to strong
ly denounce the slave trade. Though
the Stuart kings Of England and
Queen Anne fostered the slave trade
sentiment became so pronounced
against it that at the close Of the
eighteenth century its abolition be-
came apparent. The French in 1874
declared the freedom of the slaves in
the French colonies at the national
convention. The British parliament
passed the famous abolition act inl
1907 which made the slave trade by
British subjects illegal after january
I, 1908, and in the same year slavery
was prohibited by law In the United
States. Soon after it was abolished
by all the civilized countries. Adolf
ton societies were founded as early as
1880 in many northern states of thej
United States where the institution of
slavery was never considered profit
able, but the southerns staid with
theiY slaves. Washington and Jeffer.
son were opponents of slavery till the
invention of the cotton gin, which
made it profitable in the southern |
states, when they supported the insti-
tuition. John Jay. Benjamin Franklin, !
Alexander Hamilton, William Lloyd |
Garrison and other eminent leaders !
were rapidly forming public sentiment
in the north in favor of abolition
there Many of the abolitionists ,
dreamed Of a free country, while the
south dreamed of views favorable to
slavery in the south. Some treaties |
were: The Missouri Compromise. or
compromise of 1920, and the Dred
Scott Decision; these were all about
slavery. The election OF Lincoln in
1860 caused the secession of several
southern states thus Fastening the
civil war, which lasted from 1861 to
1865. During the war many hard bat.
ties were fought for the slaves and
many men lost their lives and starved
to death. The Emancipation Procla-
nation. issued on January 1, 1869,
freed about 4,000,0 900 slaves. This was
followed in 1865 by the adoption Of the
thirteenth amendment to the constitu-
ton by the people, which received the
of twenty-seven of the thirty
six states. and slavery now was pro-
hibited in all territories belonging to
the United States.
Slavery was abolished by England
in 1881, by Holland in 1868, Spanish
in Cuba IN 1886, and by Brazil in 1888.
The number OF slaves in America num-
bered very high. The slaves in the
colonies were computed at 100000 in
1776; 697,S97 in 1890. in the United
States in 1S50--3.204,313, and in 1860
there were 3,953,760. :.
A limited slave trade is still going
on, on the eastern coast of Africa,
mostly by Arabs. The institution of
slavery is recognized by law in some
parts of Asia and central Africa. Tho
governments Of Great Britain and of
Germany have been foremost in sup
pressing the slave trade of Africa.
These governments have promoted
several treaties as means to discon-
tinue the system as an institution.
After the negroes were free in Amer.
lea they hardly knew how to take care
Of themselves but they went to school
There are now many schools for
negroes only. They then worked for
and now they know ash
much as the white man does and are
glad they are free.
Mildred Baker Foster, age IL.
Agency, Iowa. II