A deadly cancer, however, spread through the tissues of “Christian America.” How could a democracy infused with Christian principles continue to sanction the enslavement of millions of human beings? The American practice of slavery had begun on 20 August 1619, when 20 Negro slaves were unloaded from a Dutch frigate at Jamestown, Virginia. By 1830 their number had increased to about two million. As a nation spread west, the institution became the issue. Every time a new state came into the Union, every time settlers moved out to fresh land, the white-hot issue of slavery burned the national
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