Discussion post American civil war

Documents:

1. James Henry Hammond, King Cotton Speech

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cotton-is-king/

2. Excerpts, Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, chs 1, 2, 6, 8, 21, 40

http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/jacobs.html

3. Excerpt, Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/douglass_july_4_speech.pdf
4. Excerpt, William Lloyd Garrison, No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery Speech, https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/185/civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-states-selected-speeches/5061/no-compromise-with-the-evil-of-slavery-speech-1854/

Instructions: 

1. Original Post
   1. Identify the one-two sentences in each document that best summarize, state, or express the main idea of the document.  List these sentences in your post.
   2. Use these sentences as evidence to help you answer the following question:  What role did slavery play in the antebellum US?
      1. Answers must *actively identify a ROLE* – simply stating there were many roles etc does not answer the question.
      2. Answers must actively use the key sentences as evidence to support the argument about the main role.
      3. Answers should be 2-3 paragraphs long.