Officiating Their Freedom: An Aide to Abolition

Officiating Their Freedom: An Aide to Abolition was written by Shira C. Sneed in partial fulfillment of her master's degree in American History in 2021. In this thesis, she continues to lay out different antislavery actions that occurred in Antebellum Period of American History.
 
87 pages
 
The purpose of the research presented in this thesis is to reveal to its readers the diverse opinions of the individuals who were placed in a position of authority by their constituents, represented by three influential states of America from the Revolutionary Era to the Reconstruction Era, in regards to whether or not slavery should be maintained. This qualitative research study presents the results of narrative data collected from within the first century of the United States of America. The findings are that Pennsylvania represents the constituents who held an antislavery stance, Virginia represents the constituents who held a proslavery standpoint, and Massachusetts represents those who maintained neutrality about the subject. The legal emancipation of slaves through the amending of the U.S. Constitution in 1865 and the civil rights granted to them through the passing of the amendments that followed were a result of an agreement reached by authorized government officials who held opposing views.