Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, thought that slavery “was established by decree of Almighty God…. It is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation…. It has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.”26 He might have added that Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, owned slaves.
