Slavery 101: Mercer Moments in American History

By Ken Mercer

“My Christian faith taught me always to fight hard but only to fight back with the truth. Sadly, I learned that the opposition to Judeo-Christian faith and family values has never had truth as a requirement.”
—Ken Mercer

Mercer describes slavery as Evil. Slavery existed in the world for thousands of years before the founding of our thirteen colonies and before the signing of our 1776 Declaration of Independence.

Then came ”The Great Awakening” of the Christian faith in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The movement to abolish world-wide slavery was born.

Article 1 (Section 9) of the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the three post-Civil War Constitutional Amendments, are just a few examples of historical events championed by Christian men and women standing firm against powerful and evil forces.

This book, Slavery 101, is the first in a series of “Mercer Moments in American History.” Future projects planned include Constitution 101—Separation of Church and State, and In God We Still Trust.

Ken Mercer believes: “We will never fully comprehend our Founding Father’s challenge to continuously strive to become a ‘more perfect Union’ unless we understand what makes our United States of America so exceptional. It is the profound impact and unbroken revival of Judeo-Christian values throughout our history.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664225121

Ken Mercer

Ken Mercer, is an author, speaker, and Christian singer. He was blessed to serve in the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Board of Education. Ken Mercer labels himself as a Christian and a conservative. His motto and slogan remains: “Faith, Family, and Freedom.” Mercer will stand for his faith, strengthen the family, and defend our God-given freedoms.

Book preview

Mercer Moments

in American History

Slavery 101

The untold, true history…

how new Christians

of the ‘Great Awakening’

ABOLISHED Human Slavery!

Ken Mercer

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Copyright © 2021 Mercer Moments in American History.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2513-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2514-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2512-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021903695

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/30/2023

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1The Declaration

Chapter 2In the Beginning

Chapter 3The Great Compromise of 1787

Chapter 4The Three-Fifths Compromise

Chapter 5First State to Outlaw Slavery

Chapter 6Amazing Grace

Chapter 7First Nation to Abolish Slavery

Chapter 8The Gag Rule

Chapter 9Percentage of Slaves Transported to the United States

Chapter 101857 Dred Scott Decision

Chapter 11Republican Slaves?

Chapter 12Moses of the Underground Railroad

Chapter 13First African American Medal of Honor Recipient

Chapter 14The Thirteenth Amendment

Chapter 15The Fifteenth Amendment

Chapter 16First African American Member of Congress

Chapter 17Arab-Muslim Slave Trade

Chapter 18Last Nation to Abolish Slavery

Chapter 19Worst and Best in the Twenty-First Century

Chapter 20First Civil Rights President

Epilogue

Appendix A

Appendix B

Selected Excerpts from the US Constitution

Dedication

To Rosalia, my Proverbs 31 Wife,

To my daughters, and son-in-law

Who each have a rock-solid heart for God,

To my first grandchild, a true gift from God,

To my wonderful extended family,

To the Christian pastors, speakers, commentators, and leaders

who each day influence so many of my journeys,

And to all the Ephesian 6 warriors who every morning

put on their full armor of God to reach out to me and

many, many others with their honest love of Jesus,

I believe the greatest gift you can ever leave

is to simply make a difference.

This first book is dedicated to you.

Introduction

The Test

This introduction follows the unique style of my books. Your introduction is actually a multiple-choice test.

Can you pass this twenty-question test on Slavery 101?

The answer to question I is found in chapter 1, question II is in chapter 2, up to question XX being chapter 20.

I. The Declaration

The 1776 Declaration of Independence, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, included a long list of grievances against King George III of England.

Question: Which grievance did the Southern colonies demand be deleted before they would agree to ratify the Declaration of Independence?

a) Denying trial by jury

b) Bringing slaves from Africa

c) Imposing taxes without representation

d) Quartering of British troops

II. In the Beginning

There are powerful groups pushing a revisionist history that slavery in the world began in the year 1619, and slavery was invented by the original thirteen colonies of what became the United States of America.

Question: When did slavery begin in the world?

A. AD 1619

B. AD 700

C. 1450 BC

D. More than 8,000 years ago

III. The Great Compromise of 1787

During the first Constitutional Convention of 1787, the representation for each state proved to be the most controversial issue.¹

The resolution for this issue was the Great Compromise (aka the Connecticut Compromise), which later in the convention would bring into question the counting of slaves in Southern states for representation.

Question: What are the key elements of the Great Compromise?

a) The Senate will be comprised of two senators from each state.

b) The House of Representatives will have the number of members allocated according to each state’s population.

c) Both of the above.

d) None of the above.

IV. The Three-Fifths Compromise

Another major dispute arose in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 regarding the counting of the slave population of Southern states in allocating members for the new US House of Representatives.²

Northern antislavery states were shocked when the Southern states wanted to count 100 percent of the slave population to create greater congressional representation. Northern states believed it unfair count slaves who had no rights in the South. Heated debate resulted in the famous Three-Fifths Compromise.

Question: During the 1787 Constitutional Convention, why did the Southern states want to count 100 percent of their slaves?

a) The Southern states wanted to increase their power in the US House to have the votes to abolish slavery eventually.

b) The Southern states wanted to increase their power in the US House to have the voting strength to provide for the education of the children of slaves.

c) The Southern states wanted to increase their representation in the US House to have votes to allow slaves the right to own property and to vote.

d) The Southern states wanted to increase their power in the US House to block any future attempt by the Northern states to end the expansion of or to abolish slavery.

V. First State to Outlaw Slavery

In 1807, Congress passed legislation to outlaw the importation of African slaves. The law was signed by President Thomas Jefferson. Prior to 1807, some states had already outlawed the importation of new slaves and abolished slavery altogether.³

Question: Which was (were) the first state(s) to outlaw slavery?

a) Massachusetts

b) Pennsylvania

c) New York

d) Vermont

e) Vermont and Pennsylvania

VI. Amazing Grace

In 1833, the British Parliament honored a man for his Christian leadership in the passage of the 1807 law to abolish the slave trade and the 1833 law to abolish all slavery in the United Kingdom.⁴,⁵ Parliament resolved to bury this man in Westminster Abbey.

Question: Who was this man who, beginning in the late 1780s, persevered for over forty years to abolish slavery in the United Kingdom?

A) William Pitt

B) King George III

C) William Wilberforce

D) John Newton

VII. First Nation to Abolish Slavery

Today, in the twenty-first century, there is much righteous indignation from politicians regarding who to blame for slavery and who should pay any financial reparations to the impacted nations and descendants of slaves. One good starting point might be to study the who, how, and when the world determined to abolish slavery.

Question: Which was the first country (nation, republic, state) to abolish slavery?

a) United Kingdom (Britain)

b) United States

c) A country in Africa

d) A country in Asia

e) Vermont Republic

VIII. The Gag Rule

A gag rule is a parliamentary procedure used by members of decision-making bodies in which they agree to limit—or table—the introduction, consideration, or discussion of a usually controversial topic.

The most famous gag rule began with the 1836 Congress’s attempt to prevent the discussion and debate of slavery.⁶

Question: Who was the main target of the 1836–1844 series of gag rules in the House of Representatives?

A) John Quincy Adams

B) President Andrew Jackson

C) Rep. Henry Pinckney, South Carolina

D) John Hammond, South Carolina

IX. Percentage of Slaves Transported to the United States

The transatlantic slave trade documented the purchase of 12.5 million Africans from their captors, the dominant and powerful African and Arab-Muslim tribes.⁷

It is estimated that 10.7 million of these new slaves survived the trip from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World of North America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Question: What percentage of those