The Life of Bill Willis

Bill Willis was an undecided, conflicting slave owner. While Bill was a slave owner who had a large chunk of his income dependent on slavery, he knew that it was an unethical way to have an income. Bill was born in South Carolina on 1802. While growing up, Bill saw his father farming and took an interest in his father’s line of work. Bill started to manage the small farm his family had when he turned 18 in 1820. Bill took full control of the farm in 1828 after his father died. In late 1862, Bill released his slaves from his farm. In 1864 Bill decided to move to the north after seeing the destruction of the south first hand. He then sold his property and used the money to start moving to the north. Bill died in 1865 from an infected cut he had received shortly after he finished moving to the north to escape the destroyed south.

While Bill owned a few slaves, he was not a cruel person. For the most part, Bill was a polite person who was calm and collected. Bill was also a hard worker who worked for what he had. On rare occasion, Bill would relax but for the most part he maintained a busy schedule for his work. Another trait that Bill had was his indecision. Bill always had a hard time making up his mind when it came to most decisions. He usually decided on something based on if it was more convenient or the option with the least amount of problems. Bill’s everyday life was that of a slave owner with only a few slaves. He spent most of his day working on the farm while having his slaves doing the more physically demanding work. Bill’s day normally starts with him waking up in the morning to go work outside while it is not hot outside. Around noon he would go inside to indoor housework while slaves continued to work outside. In the late afternoon, Bill would return outside when it is cooler to finish any of the days outside work before the sun sets. After the sun sets, Bill would go into his house and prepare for bed. On Sundays, Bill’s work was just managing his financial expenses and income rather than do outside work.

While Bill was still managing his farm, Bill started hearing rumors that slavery was going to be abolished in the 1860’s. Bill believed this to be true and prematurely released his slaves before the passing of the emancipation proclamation. The reason Bill decided to release his slaves was because he was losing faith in the Confederacy’s ability to fight the Union in the Civil War and did not want any trouble should the Union find him. Along with this Bill was already on the fence about releasing his slaves. Bill always had a higher view of the slaves as workers rather than property. Bill would even make sure his slaves were healthy so that they could do their work more efficiently. Bill also only owned slaves because they were one of the things Bill had received as his inheritance from his father. Unfortunately, if Bill was to free his slaves, most people he knew were going to shun Bill for his irrational behavior. This was because most other people did not understand why Bill would want to throw out free, unpaid labor. Even when Bill would explain his reasons, people looked at him like he was crazy because in the other peoples’ eyes, slaves were not human. Bill ultimately decided the best thing was for him to free the slaves even if it meant social disownment. Bill freeing his slaves also would have meant that his financial status may decrease as a result of a loss in slave labor.

The issues Bill dealt with directly cam form the emancipation proclamation. Once the proclamation was rumored to exist, Bill decided to release his slaves to get himself out of hot water if the proclamation was passed. Once the rumored proclamation passed, Bill sided with the document, taking the side that slavery emancipation is the right thing to do for all the slaves in the Confederacy. Once Bill started to side with the proclamation, Bill started to see all of the injustices that the slaves were receiving and made Bill’s sense of abolition grow stronger. The problem bill had with the document was the fact it did not free slaves in the states that bordered the Union. He did not understand why the government did not free the slaves in all the states. Bill was judged by his actions to be an outcast in the south. This was mostly in part to the conflictions in Bill, along with Bill’s indecision and being easily persuaded. However, since Bill had a good moral compass, he did the right thing in most situations.