White Slavery in America

When people consider slavery in America, they think of the Antebellum South. That is the time just before the American Civil war which was from 1861 to 1865. They understand how President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Many people consider that document to have freed all the slaves in America but in reality it only freed some slaves. Those slaves held in states that continued to be loyal to the United States remained in bondage. States like Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky continued to legally allow slavery. Lincoln did not want to alienate those border states. He certainly did not want them to leave the Union and join their Confederate neighbors. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was also limited in its authority over states in the south. Legally slaves in states that were in rebellion were free. Until Lincoln's army took control of an area slaves continued to be in bondage in the south. When the Civil War ended the thirteenth amendment to our United States Constitution would indeed abolish slavery throughout the United States. Unfortunately, even in America we find illegal examples of people being forced into slavery, even in modern times.