The demand for labor in the colonies that produced those crops exceeded the supplies. The supply of African slaves seemed limitless. The English colonies decided that African slavery was the answer to their problem. Europeans needed to convince themselves that other races were somehow less than human in order to justify the brutal and inhuman - but profitable - acts they committed against the slaves.
Massachusetts became the first colony to pass laws establishing slavery. Under the new laws race determined a persons legal status. Blacks were made slaves for life. Babies born to slave mothers were also considered slaves. Under these laws Africans became property of the Europeans instead of fellow human beings. .
These practices continued until the time of the Civil War , which began in 1861. The Union was not interested in abolishing slavery. The real issues were economic, not moral. The Northern Industrialists wanted free land, free labor, and high tariffs to protect their manufacturing interests. They wanted the Union to remain intact. Southern planters wanted free trade to protect their exports and new markets for selling slaves. They wanted states to be able to leave the Union if they chose to.
In his first Inaugural Address, President Lincoln offered assurances to the southern states: .
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. [Mizell p. 55].
By 1862, President Lincoln was anxious to end the war. He proposed amendments to the Constitution that would free slaves and pay off their former owners. In September 1862 he announced the Emancipation Proclamation. It said that if the Confederate states did not end their rebellion by December 31, 1862 slaves in those states would be free. He signed it into law on January 1, 1863.
In November 1862, the attorney general declared that "free men of color, if born in the United States, are citizens of the United States.