Abolitionists, continued to campaign for emancipation. Southern representatives countered in 1836 by securing the adoption of the gag rule, a rule limiting or preventing debate on an issue.

Pro-Slavery Arguments

Some proslavery advocates used the Bible to defend slavery. Some had attacked slavery in the early 1800s. Most white ministers in the South believed that slavery and Christianity could coexist. Northern mill owners fired their workers when they became to sick or old whereas Southerners cared for their slaves for a lifetime.