This research paper will serve to examine the development of slavery in the United States, beginning in the 17th century, by the colonists of Virginia. It will analyze the spread of slavery in the American colonies and identify disagreements between the North and the South. The article will explain the daily lives of slaves and argue how the oppression of black slaves was unjust, introducing the Civil War, and how it began. It will also express the Emancipation Proclamation along with the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. This will lead to discovering how the slaves achieved their freedom. Slavery in America began when European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheap and more abundant source of labor than indentured servants. Indentured servants were poor English colonists who gave up their freedom for three to seven years in exchange for passage to America. They received a payment known as a “freedom fee” when they finished their contract and were released. European settlers needed more workers for their plantations. In 1619, a Dutch ship brought twenty captive Africans ashore and sold them in Jamestown, Virginia. Slavery soon became widespread as more and more Africans were shipped to the colonies. Historians have estimated that in the 18th century alone, there were six to seven million slaves imported from Africa. This importation deprived the African continent of some of its healthiest and most able men and women. Slaves had been treated like savages even before they were brought to America. During the slave trade, the transportation of slaves across the Atlantic, many slaves had lost their lives during the journey itself. The crossing lasted about 60-90 days, but some...... half of the paper...... Proclamation of tion (1863)." Our documents -. Np, nd Web. 30 November 2013." Fifteenth Amendment." History.com. A&E Television Networks, nd Web. November 30, 2013. "Fourteenth Amendment." History.com. A&E Television Networks, nd Web. November 29, 2013. Lincoln, Abraham. "Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation ". Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, January 1, 1863. Web. November 29, 2013. Lincoln, Abraham "Letter to Horace Greeley." Documents in American History. 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs and Services, Library of Congress). Np, nd Web. November 29, 2013."Slavery in America." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. November 30, 2013. “Thirteenth Amendment.” History.com, n.d. Web. 2013.