The conversation between human and AI assistant.
Who was the first slave owner?
How did the abolition of slavery come about?
The abolition of slavery in the United States was the result of a long and difficult struggle by abolitionists, both black and white. The Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, became a major turning point in the effort to abolish slavery. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the Confederate states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."