If Pavlich were presenting her arguments regarding slavery to me, I would want to remind her of the historical implications of slavery and the role that the United States played in it. Mainly, Pavlich argues that America does not get credit for ending slavery. However, the fight against slavery did not take place solely in America. Moreover, America was not the first state to do so, since Britain ended slavery in 1833 with its Slavery Abolition Act, which banned the practice across its colonies. When reviewing the process of slavery abolishment, it should be mentioned that it was long as not all states considered this practice as something immoral.
Next, Pavlich argues that slavery existed throughout human history. This is true. However, Pavlich disregards the fact that throughout the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, individuals from Africa were kidnapped from their families and brought to America to work without pay and against their will. The American setters chose slaves over servants as a cheaper version of a workforce to work on their cotton or tobacco plantations. The fact that slavery was common and used throughout history does not make kidnapping and forced labor ethical.
The freedom movement was led by free African-Americans, such as Frederic Douglass and William Lloyd Harrison. Throughout the 1830s and 1860s, most slaves gained freedom by escaping from their masters, which was dangerous and often resulted in them being captured. This shows that the African-Americans were the ones fighting for freedom, and not the settlers who realized that their use of slave labor was immoral.
Moreover, even after slavery was banned in the state, the social injustices and segregation continued to treat the African-Americans unjustly. Hence, things such as having access to education or a job with fair wages were inaccessible for this community. Hence, when responding to the claim that “America deserves more credit for ending slavery,” I would argue that this action was natural and necessary retribution of terrible practices that obstruct human freedom. Praising America for doing so would completely disregard the fact that for years, slavery was a norm in the sate, and the slaves were treated not as human beings. Therefore, I would argue that America does not deserve credit for ending slavery. Instead, it should be acknowledged that this terrible practice existed, and people who fought for the abolishment of it should be praised. To conclude, the historical inaccuracy that Pavlich displays completely disregards the history of slavery in America and the fact that the state was not the first one to ban slavery.