SOTW 3 Annotated for LDS Ch. 36 The Slave Trade Ends

Long before we came to this earth, we fought for our right to be
free. Jesus Christ offered Himself to become our Savior to free us
from the bonds of sin. Once we came to the earth, the war for freedom
continued as there were those who sought to enslave others. As the
Spirit of the Lord came to rest on the minds and hearts of more and
more people, they came to realize that all men were created equal and
they made efforts to correct this evil. It was not easy to break
these bonds, for there were many who sought for riches which slavery
brought to them, but more and more people began wanting to do what was
right.

Elder Matthias F. Cowley said: "Nephi declared in the name of the
Lord that God had decreed that this land (the American continent)
should be a land of liberty, and that there should not occupy it any
people that would hold in servitude any other class of people (see 2
Nephi 1:7)." The work of freeing people from bondage became a
world-wide movement, providing opportunity for the work of the Lord to
be accomplished.