Great job summarizing the reading Noemi. You demonstrated a full knowledge of the text while making it easily understandable. I agree that the declaration as a whole represented an important shift more American citizens began to feel in terms of moral ethics. Mirroring the Separatists and Puritans before sailing to the "New World" or the citizens of Boston before the Revolutionary War, those involved in the Anti-Slavery society were merely the spark that eventually ignited a widespread movement toward freedom of a people.
In response to Alex, I can sort of see how southerners may have come to the conclusion that slavery was just based on those Bible verses, but they failed to observe the context around them. Quoted from http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/genesis/Lesson_7.htm, "Ham, father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.....
Ham is identified as the father of Canaan, suggesting that Canaan played a part in these events.
He added "Blessed be Yahweh, God of Shem, let Canaan be his slave! 27May God make a space for Japheth, may he live in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his slave!
Noah defined Shem as his heir and the mediator of the covenant God formed with Noah and creation. In that role, Shem became God's high priest in offering sacrifice. Shem will bear the authority of his father and the youngest son, Japheth, will look to Shem as his leader and benefactor, while Canaan will be completely subservient to Shem's authority without any share in the inheritance."
Examining the text above, it reveals that Canaan was not just an innocent bystander, but may have been involved and/or encouraged his father. Therefore, Canaan was being punished by not sharing an inheritance, being a figurative "slave" to the eldest son. No actual slavery was even involved! That being said, these observations were based on a Catholic point of view, and many of the people living in the south at the time were Baptist, Methodist, etc.
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