Why Did African Americans Fight For Slavery

Frederick Douglass In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, it is made clear that white people could always find a reason to fight for slavery. Some fought because they believed they were helping the slaves. During the early days of America when slavery was just starting, Africa was having problems with a corrupt government. White people took advantage of this, they decided to trade food and other goods for slaves. Being that Africa could not function well enough on their own, it was in their best interest to trade with other countries even if it meant that they had to give up some of their people to slavery. Although, back then they didn't believe they were taking advantage of them per se, being that they were very religious they most likely thought that they were saving them and giving them a better life. Captain Auld was said to have “a house of prayer” where there was almost a revolving door of ministers coming through every day to pray with him. He was probably among the slave owners that believed that they were saving them from a lot of hardships back in Africa. In addition to the belief of …show more content…
Douglass “Could regard [white men] in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen [africans] from [their] homes, and in a strange land reduced [them] to slavery”. He and many other slaves did not see these men as religious, or kind, or helpful in any way. All they saw was their cruelty, and injustice, and empty hearts. These men who could go to other people's homes and take their families put them on a boat and ship them to some foreign land to be sold as property, could not have a soul. To a slave, these men seemed to feel no pain, no hurt, and no remorse for what they had done. They kept giving reasons for why slavery was good, but all the black men could see was