Hello and welcome to the Primary Source Guide on Slavery & Abolition, Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, people were kidnapped from the continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies, and exploited to work in the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton. By the mid-19th century, America’s westward expansion and the abolition movement provoked a great debate over slavery that would tear the nation apart in the bloody Civil War. This guide will provide you the researcher a substantial amount of primary sources on various topics and subjects pertaining to the Civil War. This guide is a living document as new credible sources either in print or online format will be added or removed in the case of a link that no longer works. I hope this guide proves useful to you.