Time will inevitably change everything. That being said, more than about a century and a half ago, the institution of racial slavery was a highly controversial societal issue, leading to civil war. My personal opinion is that slavery is best defined as the absolute ownership of another's life as personal property, and this practice of racial slavery has been widely considered one of the only means of economic prosperity in all of the deep South. Wealthy plantation owners, subsistence slave farmers, and even Northern abolitionists who were involved in purchasing cotton from southern slave states and weaving that cotton into clothing for sale benefited economically from slave labor. This unique American practice of forced labor was particularly horrific compared to other forms of slavery because it targeted a specific ethnic group into human servants who were typically indebted to their masters for life, while dehumanizing all people. of this same ethnic group. This truly incriminating social injustice has not been easy on the American conscience. Often considered undemocratic, slavery needed a compelling moral justification to avoid its abolition. This "moral justification" often came in the form of a religion in which slavery was seen as a socially morally upright institution, an argument supported by several Bible verses referring to how slaves should behave towards their masters. Historians have often studied this complex relationship between religion and slavery in American history, and this article will also seek to examine the impact of Christianity on the complex issue of slavery in antebellum American society . Some Christian preachers like George Whitefi... middle of paper ...... the governor of South Carolina. » Pattillo, Henry. “The ordinary planter's family assistant; Containing an address to husbands and wives, children and servants. »Whitefield, George. “Three letters from the Rev. Mr G Whitefield: viz….Letter III. To the people of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, concerning their negroes. »Oakes, James. “I Own My Slaves, But They Own Me Too”: Ownership and Paternalism in the Slave South.” Reviews In American History December 2010: 587-594. Center for History Studies. Web April 23, 2014. Young, Jeffery. “Richard Furman, 1823.” Slavery and sectional thought in the early South, 1740-1829. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006. 226. PrintYoung, Jeffery. “George Whitefield, 1740.” Slavery and sectional thought in the early South, 1740-1829. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006. 68. Print