Slavery In The Mesopotamian Code Of Hammurabi

Slavery is a taboo dysphemism that can evoke and embody sensationalism of white man’s oppression of the Negro. However, slavery was not always seen this way, there was a time when the stigma of slavery was not tied to despotism and apartheid. Slavery was once an intrinsic part of everyday life in the South, especially during the antebellum period, yet it was during this time that the Founding Fathers started to question slavery. Records of slavery can be found dating as far back as the early 1700s B.C.E. in the Mesopotamian code of Hammurabi. The code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest written records of slavery and gives us an idea of the intrinsic nature of slavery to early settlers, “ If any one take a male or female slave of the court,
Slavery, the once unquestionable institution, found itself being questioned, and even changing. That change didn’t happen overnight there was still a schism of views for the Revolutionary leaders of Georgia and South Carolina didn’t believe slavery was a problem. George Fitzhugh’s book Canniballs All! Or, Slaves Without Masters encapsulates the dominant view in Virginia during the antebellum era in 1857 by saying, “The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world. ” In contrast you had places were the “Founding Fathers called slavery a deplorable problem, an evil necessary only until the conditions for abolition could be secured.” Albeit slavery was considered a ‘deplorable problem’ it would take time, leadership, and a man named Lincoln, to see its
Lincoln was not viewed as the night in shining armor that was going to change slavery the dominate view was quit the contrary; “Negroes noted that in this first of Lincoln’s state papers he repeated that he had no intention of interfering with slavery.” Yet it has been intimated that Lincoln was “Possibly influenced by abolitionist views of William Henry Johnson, a self-educated free negro who had attached himself to the regiment, these New York volunteers took the position that no human being in their camp could be branded as a slave.” One of the pivotal aspects of Lincoln’s character that was imperative in ability to lay the foundation for abolition was his patience: “I May Advance Slowly,” said Lincoln “but I don’t walk